
CJass_. F^SS 



AN ADDRESS 



J ' 



IN 



COMMEMORATION OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT 



OF KENTUCKY: 



DELIVERED 



At Boonesbororigh the 25tli May, 1840, 



BY 



JAMES T. MOREHEAD 




FRANKFORT, KY. 

A. G. HODGES STATE PRINTER, 

1840. 



County of Madison, May 29ih, 1810. 
Hon. James T. Morehead, 

Dear Sir:— On behalf of the several Committees appointed by the Counties 
of Madison and Clarke, in relation to the Celebration at Boonesborough, on the 24th 
instant, of the 65th Anniversary of the first settlement of Kentucky, we have to request 
that you will furnish for the press, a copy of the very appropriate and eloquent address 
delivered by you en that interesting occasion. 

In making this request, we take pleasure in assuring you, that we not only express 
ihe wishes of the several Committees, but of the whole community, and that we are 
Most respectfully, and sincerely, yours, &c. 

DANIEL BRECK, J. B. HOUSTON, 

DAVID IRVINE, JOHN MARTIN, 

W. H. CAPERTON, A.W.MILLS, 
ARCHIBALD WOODS, PATTON D. HARRISON. 



Frankfort, 5ih June, 1840. 
Gentlemen : 

In complying with your request to furnish you a copy of my address at Boones- 
borough, on the 25th ultimo, on the occasion of the Celebration of the first settlement 
of Kentucky, I beg to be permitted to express my acknowledgements for the favorable 
terms in which you have been pleased to speak of it, and the gratification I shall feel, 
should it contribute, in any degree, to diffuse acquaintance with the early history of our 
Commonwealth. 

I have the honor to be, 

With great respect. 

Gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, 

JAMES T. MOREHEAD, 
Daniel Brece, Esq., and others, 

Committee, &c. 



ti 



ADDRESS. 



We meet under circumstances of peculiar felicitation. 
From various parts of our beloved Commonwealth, we 
have come up to the place which has been known in past, 
as it will continue to be known in all future time, as the 
first permanent residence of those extraordinary men, 
who, with fortitude and perseverance unexampled in the 
history of the human race, dislodged the aborigines of 
the soil we inhabit, and prepared it, under the pressure 
of almost incredible hardships and sufferings, for the 
abode of free and intelligent man. The descendants of 
the pioneers have assembled to discharge pious obliga- 
tions of high and solemn import, to their memory. On 
the spot where we now are, there was convened, sixty- 
five years ago, the first Legislative Assembly of the great 
Valley of the West. It was composed of seventeen del- 
egates or representatives of not more than one hundred 
and fifty constituents, then the probable number of the 
people of Kentucky. The day on which they began 
their perilous labors, in an uninhabited and savage wil- 
derness, of which the red man and the buffalo had until 
then been the sole and unmolested possessors, — a middle 
point of time, between the commencement and comple- 
tion of the first rude fortress built by our ancestors for 
protection and defence — has been selected as the one 
most appropriately to be dedicated by the citizens of 
Kentucky to the commemoration of the earliest and 
most interesting event of their history. 



The importance of that event, — the dignity of the 
occasion — the interest and impressiveness of the specta- 
cle now presented to view — all combine to inspire us 
with sentiments of profound gratitude to Heaven, that 
we have lived to see this day : and our prayers are due 
to the great disposer of human events, who shielded our 
fathers and has hitherto watched over us, that He will 
preserve our institutions for generations to come, and 
that through His divine agency we may be permitted to 
perpetuate this anniversary by a solemn annual dedica- 
tion of it to the purposes of gratitude and thanksgiving 
and joy. 

Anxious for the indulgence I have often received from 
my fellow citizens, and sustained by the confidence that 
it will not be withheld, I proceed to the performance of 
the duty which they have assigned to me. 

The seventeenth century was distinguished by the 
settlement of the North American colonies, and the suc- 
cessful establishment of their institutions. To say noth- 
ing of the causes by which those events were superin- 
duced, or cf their influence upon the political affairs of 
mankind, it may be observed that no revolution either of 
manners or pursuits could be more thorough and per- 
ceptible, than that which was experienced by the primi- 
tive emigrants from the old world to the new. They 
w^ere the subjects of a misgoverned but time honored 
state, in which the few remaining relics of feudalism 
gave proof of tha progress of modern amelioration; 
and no sooner had they landed on the shore of the new 
world, than they found themselves the occupants of a 
wilderness, untrodden by the foot of civilized man, in- 
fested by savages, unsparing in cruelty and greatly su- 
perior in numbers, and bounded only by oceans that en- 
circled the continent. In this exposed condition, years 



of calamity and of suffering passed over them. Indo- 
lence, vice and famine produced their inevitable conse- 
quences — anarchy and discord and death. The re- 
straints of government — the feebleness of their resour- 
ces — the paucity of their numbers, — their remoteness 
from the parent country — the strength and fierceness of 
the surrounding native tribes — all contributed to impair 
their energies and damp their hopes — but notwithstand- 
ing the weight of such powerful retardments, before the 
close of the first half century after their emigration, the 
settlements had spread from the coasts to the interior; 
the colonial institutions had taken deep root in the soil — 
and an impulse was given to the progress of the colonies 
which was never afterwards' to be overcome. The char- 
acteristics of the colonists in the mean time had under- 
gone such a change as was necessary to adapt them to 
the emergencies of their new condition. The extension 
of their population westward, while it enlarged the boun- 
daries of civilization, tended at the same time, to enure 
the adventurous emigrants to scenes of toil and of dan- 
ger; and to engender the habits and modes of life and 
action, of rude and unpolished man. If the mass of the 
people of the colonies, even of those that were most dense- 
ly settled, were deprived of the luxuries and superflui- 
ties of life, the inhabitants of the frontier preferred a 
livelihood acquired by the contingent and hazardous em- 
ployment of a hunter, to the cultivation of the soil, or 
the practice of any mechanical occupation. While the 
force of circumstances propelled them on the one hand, 
into hostile contact with the natives, in respect to whom 
their position was necessarily antagonistical, they were 
urged, on the other, to depend for protection and secu- 
rity on their personal prowess and intrepidity alone; and 
to seek the means of support, in the midst of ferocious 



8 

and wily enemies, whose stealthy incursions no vigilance 
could elude ; whose implacable resentment , no other sa- 
crifice than that of blood could appease. The dextrous 
use of the rifle, therefore, became an acquisition of in- 
dispensible importance. The instinct of self-preserva- 
tion pointed it out as a weapon necessary at once for an- 
noyance and defence; and in a country abounding with 
every species of game, the frequent visitations of scar- 
city and want, taught them to rely on that trusty imple- 
ment as a most valuable auxiliary in furnishing subsis- 
tence to their families and themselves. 

In the progress of little more than a century and a 
half from the colonization of Virginia to the breaking out 
of hostilities with the parent country in 1775, the pop- 
ulation of the colonies had swelled to three millions. A 
nation had sprung up, claiming attention for its thrifti- 
ness and enterprise, its increasing commercial and agri- 
cultural resources, its intelligence and devotion to civil 
liberty. All the circumstances of its early career were 
favorable to the formation of those traits of character, 
that fitted it for the conflict which the rashness and vio- 
lence of the maternal councils threatened and precipita- 
ted — favorable also to the enlargement of the colonial 
possessions, by the conquest of distant and unexplored 
regions, the occupancy of which was still in bold and 
warlike Indian tribes. The existing generation was ad- 
mirably qualified for the distinguished part it was to per- 
form on a new theatre of human affairs. Born in the 
wilderness, it might almost be said to have been nurtur- 
ed in hardship — to have been disciplined in the hunter's 
camp, — to have been educated in the school of exposure 
and of peril. Wave after wave of civilization, as the 
colonial settlements expanded, wafted the aboriginal 
tribes still farther westward, and their places were sup- 



9 

plied by the hardy backwoodsmen , who, from taste and 
inchnation, sought homes and employment on the con- 
fines of the settlements. However the interior inhab- 
itants of the colonies may have been comparatively se- 
cure from the inroads of the savages, the weak and scat- 
tered settlements on the border were exposed to inces- 
sant conflicts, by night and by day, against fearful odds 
with their desperate and deadly foe. Not only was the 
power of endurance, however, strengthened by the in- 
vigorating habits of a frontier life, but a constant parti- 
cipation of its nerve-trying scenes, and a consequent fa- 
miliarity with its perils and vicissitudes, imparted to them 
charms, superior in the estimation of the tenant of the 
wilderness, to the soft endearments of polished society, 
or to the selfish and tranquil pursuits of ambition and 
wealth. The free born wanderer of the woods knew, 
only to disclaim, the artificial restraints of society, and 
as he roamed through the dark and majestic forest, or 
scaled the dizzy heights of the mountains, or traced the 
meanderings of some noble river, his attachments for his 
chosen pursuits increased with the increase of years, and 
he yielded himself to their enjoyment with the proud 
satisfaction that he was the free and untaxed proprietor 
of the boundless domains of nature around him. 

This absorbing preference of the frontier life charac- 
terized the whole class of original western emigrants ; 
and although the prevailing passion of that period for 
adventure and discovery, may have given impulse to 
their extraordinary career, to the predominant influence 
of their preference for that mode of life is chiefly attrib- 
utable the steady and unwavering perseverance, with 
which amidst all the discouragements and difliculties 
that encompassed them, they maintained their ground 



10 

and eventually effected the conquest of the magnificent 
regions of the West. 

Although the territory comprehended within the lim- 
its of Kentucky was embraced by the patent of James I, 
to the Virginia company, yet for more than a hundred 
and fifty years after Virginia was settled, Kentucky, 
abounding in every thing calculated to tempt the cupidi- 
ty or the enterprise of men, was as little known to the in- 
habitants east of the Alleghanies, as the terra incognita 
of antiquity. We have the assurance of history, that 
prior to the year 17G7, no citizen of Virginia had 
ventured to cross the great Laurel Ridge, which was 
the apparent western boundary of that colony. An explor- 
ing party, it is true, under the direction of Dr. Walker, 
had some years before, crossed the Cumberland Moun- 
tain from Powell's Valley and passed hastily along the 
northeastern portion of Kentucky ; but their discoveries 
extended no farther than the country bordering on the 
Sandy river which now separates us from Virginia, and 
the party returned as ignorant of Kentucky, as if no ex- 
ploration had been made. Long anterior to the year 
1767, the vast regions of the northwest and south had 
been successfully explored from the Lakes to the Gulf of 
Mexico, under the auspices of the French and Spanish 
governments, and settlements were made at various pla- 
ces in the discovered countries — at Vincennes, Peoria, 
Cahokia, Kaskaskia, and Fort Chartres on the Missis- 
sippi. Towards the middle of the sixteenth century, 
Ferdinand De Soto, the celebrated discoverer of the low- 
er Mississippi, visited the country between Pensacola and 
North Carolina, passing through Georgia, Alabama and 
Tennessee — and thus became acquainted with the south- 
ern parts of the continent.* In June 1673 Father Mar- 

* De Soto died on the 21 May, 1542. " To conceal his death," says Bancroft, [History 
U. S., 1. 57] "his body was wrapped in a mantle, and in the stillness of midnight, was 



11 

quette, a French Missionary, stood on the banks of the 
Upper Mississippi ; and having descended that river to 
its junction with the Arkansas, returned to Chicago on 
Lake Michigan, passing up the river Ilhnois. After 
him, the enterprizing but unfortunate La Salle, resolved 
upon a further exploration of the regions of the northwest: 
and with that view, built in 1769 on Lake Erie, the first 
large vessel that ever ploughed its beautiful waters. He 
proceeded up the Lakes to Michilimackinac, where he 
left his ship and embarking in canoes, sailed along the 
coast until he reached the southern extremity of Lake 
Michigan. From there he crossed over the portage to 
the Illinois, and descended that river and the Mississip- 
pi to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1717 "the company of 
the West," under whose auspices Fort Chartres was es- 
tablished, became entitled, by virtue of a grant from 
Louis XIV, to the immense territory, comprizing Lou- 
isiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Illinois, Mis- 
souri and Arkansas;* and a chain of posts was estab- 
lished by the French government, to connect their pos- 
sessions in Canada with those in Louisiana by a line of 
communication from Quebec to New Orleans. 

Although surrounded, as we have seen, by settlements 
at every point of the compass, and composing a part of 
the extensive territory embraced by the patent of the 
Virginia company, Kentucky remained a dangerous and 
unexplored wilderness — unexplored, if we concede the 
expedition of Dr. Walker to have been an entire failure — 
and scarcely known by tradition to the restless and en- 
terprising inhabitants of the New World, until the year 

silently sunk in the middle of the stream. The discoverer of the Mississippi slept be- 
nealli its waters. He crossed a large part of the continent in search of gold, and found 
nothing so remarkable as his burial place." 
* Hall't Sketches, 1. 143. 



12 

1767.* No habitation had been reared by civilized 
hands within her borders. The foot of the white man 
had never touched her soil to appropriate or subdue it. 
The keen glance of discovery which had penetrated ev- 
ery other region of the west, had not ventured into the re- 
cesses of her majestic forests and her tangled canebrakes. 
The nations of the red men themselves had never lived 
within the limits of the dark and bloody ground. "The 
first explorers of this region," says a historian of the 
west,! " found no Indians settled upon the shores of the 
Ohio." " Throughout the whole length of that beauti- 
ful river, no vestige of an Indian town is to be found." 
The favorite resort of the elk and the buffalo, and the 
haunt of every imaginable beast of prey, Kentucky was 
at once the hunting ground and the battlefield of fero- 
cious tribes of savages, numerous memorials of whose 
bloody conflicts, attest the desperation with which their 
respective titles v/ere disputed to the sovereignty over 
the soil. It was truly a spell-bound land : and the spell 
continued until it was dissolved in blood. If we consid- 
er how enchanting must have been the aspect of the 
country, as it was presented to the eye of one of its 
principal discoverers, when "from the top of an eminence 
on the banks of the Red river, he saw with pleasure, the 
beautiful level of Kentucky ,"J our astonishment may be 

•"The country beyond the Cumberland mountain, still [in 1767] appeared to the 
dusky view of the generality of the people of Virginia, almost as obscure and doubtful, 
as America itself to the people of Europe, before the voyage of Columbus. A coun- 
try there was— of this none could doubt, who thought at all; but whether land or wa- 
ter, mountain or plain, fertility or barrenness preponderated ; whether inhabited by men 
or beasts or both or neither, they knew not. If inhabited by men, they were supposed 
to bo Indians, — for such had always infested the frontiers: And this had been a power- 
ful reason for not exploring the regions west of the great mountain, which concealed 
Kentucky from their sight." — Marshall, vol. 1, p. 7. 

+ Hall's Sketches, vol . 1, p. 233. 

■JBoone'i Narrative, 1784, 



awakened that such a country should have remained so 
long obscure and unknown : but we may not be aston- 
ished that a region, teeming with all the bounties of 
Providence for the red man's peculiar enjoyment, associ- 
ated with recollections of the glorious exploits of his an- 
cestors in the fields of nature and of battle, and endear- 
ed to him by strong and deeply rooted superstitions, 
should have been relinquished only when it could no 
longer be maintained either by stratagem or force; only 
with the extinguishment of every ray of hope of its 
eventual extrication from the dominion of the invader. 
Nor need we be astonished that in the prosecution of 
the effort to expel the invader from their common hunt- 
ing grounds, all motives for jealousy and collision among 
the conflicting tribes, should, for the occasion, have been 
laid aside, and that the cause of vengeance against the 
white man should have been a common cause. 

During the twenty years that intervened between the 
first permanent settlement and the successful termina- 
tion of General Wayne's campaign in 1794, there was 
no peace for the devoted inhabitants of Kentucky. 
Day after day, for twenty years, the sun rose but to wit- 
ness in his course incessantly-recurring scenes of danger 
and of bloodshed, the bare recital of which chills us with 
horror at the distance of half a century from the period 
of their occurrence. Suns set and night came, but with 
the darkness came no respite from the anxious thoughts, 
the unwearied watchings, the ever present perils of the 
white man. If he left in the morning his cabin or his 
camp — the rude spot to which he had appropriated the 
endearing name of home — no assurance was allowed to 
gladden the prospect of his return, that the one would 
not be in ruins or the other deluged in blood. The few 
and meagre records that have been transmitted of the 



14 

events of those trying years, contain little else than dai- 
ly reiterations of some hair-breadth escape, or some 
mournful tragedy; and so frequent and familiar were 
violent deaths by the rifle or the tomahawk, so common 
were scenes of devastation and massacre, that the tran- 
quil disembodying of the spirit from disease, was a cu- 
rious and interesting spectacle, which was witnessed by 
women as well as men, with mingled emotions of won- 
der and admiration and awe.* It is scarcely too much to 
say in the emphatic language of a very accurate histo- 
rian, *'• that hecatombs of white men were offered by 
the Indian to the God of battles in their desperate and 
ruthless contention for Kentucky."! Yet the undaunted 
emigrants maintained their ground; and while the moun- 
tains and the valleys rang with the yells of a vastly out- 
numbering foe, and the forests glittered with the gleams 
of the tomahawk, and death was ambushed in every 
canebrake, and danger lurked in every imaginable shape, 
the intrepid backwoodsmen, with their characteristic 
fearlessness, enjoyed life, hunted game, levelled forests^ 
built forts and villages, opened roads, administered 
justice, married wives, spent sociable evenings, and laid 
all the foundations of a future commonwealth. 

It is due to the occasion that has convened us togeth- 
er, that we should unfold the prominent events in the 
early history of Kentucky which led to consequences so 
interesting to us all, and it is due to the memory of the 
wonderful men who achieved them, that we exhibit their 
characters for the admiration of mankind. 

Historians do not agree as to the precise date of the 
visitof Dr. Walker, J to Powell's Valley, and from thence 

*See Appendix, note A. t Butler, p. 19. 

I Butler, 18, says in 1747, and adds "Ur. Walker so inroimed John Brown, Esq. 
of Frankfort." Marshall, I. 6, says « about the year 1758." 



\ 



15 

across the Cumberland mountain to the Big Sandy river. 
Whatever may have been the period, it cannot be an im- 
portant enquir}^, when we know that he traversed the 
northeastern border only, and saw but a small and moun- 
tainous part of the country. I have said that it was no ex- 
ploration of Kentucky, as is manifest from the fact, that 
the party returned dissatisfied, and with such an unfa- 
vorable opinion of the region through which they passed, 
as to be deterred from any attempt to revisit it.* The 
facts connected with Dr. Walker's excursion that do 
interest us, however, and about which there is no disa- 
greement, are, that he gave their present appellations to 
the Cumberland river and to the pass through the moun- 
tain of the same name ; that he crossed the main north- 
ern branch of the Kentucky, which he called by the 
sweet name of Louisa, by which title the main Kentucky 
river as well as the country were respectively known for 
many years afterwards, and was recognized by Hender- 
son in the treaty at Wataga in March 1775.t At what 
time, for what reason or by what means the Indian ap- 
pellation of Kan-tuck-ee, w^as afterwards substituted, 
and applied exclusively to both the river and the soil, 
we have no means of determining. 

The first successful attempt to explore the Kentucky 
country was made by John Finley, a backwoodsman of 
North Carolina, in 1767. He was attended by a few 
companions, as adventurous as himself, whose names 
have escaped the notice of history. They were evident- 
ly a party of hunters, and were prompted to the bold and 
hazardous undertaking, for the purpose of indulging in 
their favorite pursuits. Of Finley and his comrades, 
and of the course and extent of their journey, little is 
now known. That they were of the pure blood, and en- 

*MaishalI, 1,6. Duller, 18. t Builer, Appendix, 101. 



16 

dowed Avitli the genuine qualities, of the pioneers, is 
manifestly undeniable. That they passed over the Cum- 
berland, and through the intermediate country to the 
Kentucky river, and penetrated the beautiful valley of 
the Elkhorn, there are no sufficient reasons to doubt. 
It is enough, however, to embalm their memory in our 
hearts, and to connect their names with the imperisha- 
ble memorials of our early history, that they were the 
first adventurers that plunged into the dark and enchant- 
ed wilderness of Kentucky, — that of all their cotempo- 
raries they saw her first — and saw her in the pride of 
her virgin beauty — at the dawn of summer — in the full- 
ness of her vegetation — her soil, instinct with fertility, 
covered with the most luxuriant verdure — the air per- 
fumed with the fragrance of flowers, and her tall forests 
looming in all their primeval magnificence. 

How long Finley lived, or where he died, the silence 
of history does not enable us to know. That his remains 
are now mingled with the soil that he discovered, there 
is some reason to hope, for he conducted Boone to Ken- 
tucky in 1769 — and there the curtain drops upon him for- 
ever. It is fit it should be raised. It is fit that justice, late 
and tardy that it be, should be done to the memory of the 
first of the pioneers. And what can be more appropri- 
ate, than that the first movement should be made for the 
performance of such a duty, on the day of the commem- 
oration of the discovery and settlement of the Common- 
wealth? 

The return of the hunters to North Carolina created a 
general sensation. The glowing accounts they gave of 
the country they had visited, — of its extraordinary beau- 
ty, its surpassing fertility, and above all, of the unex. 
haustible abundance of wild game which it furnished, 
fired the hearts of the inhabitants of the frontier. After 



17 

a. twelvemonth or more had elapsed, Finley's roving 
habits conducted him to the Yadkin river in the vicinity 
of the residence of Daniel Boone, whose life, although 
he was then but twenty-two year-"? of age,* had already 
developed the features of that extraordinary character, 
which subsequently distinguished his career, and secur- 
ed him a conspicuous rank among the remarkable men 
of the period in which he lived. The simple narrative 
of Finley's adventures was sufficient to fix the determi- 
nation of the future conqueror of the wilderness ; and it 
was resolved that they would explore Kentucky togeth- 
er. In the ensuing spring they set off on their journey. 
" It was on the 1st of May 1769," says Boone himself,t 
whose phraseoloL'y I prefer to adopt, " that I resigned 
my domestic happiness, and left my family and peacea- 
ble habitation on the Yadkin river, in North Carolina, 
to wander through the wilderness of America, in quest 
of the country of Kentucke, in company with John Fin- 
ley, John Stuart, Joseph Holden, James Mooney, and 
William Cool." 

What can be more striking, than the predominance 
of the passion for adventure — the controlling influence 
of devotion to the hunter's life — exhibited in this touch- 
ing annunciation of the motives .ind objects of the youth- 
ful pioneer ? He had not long been married. His fa- 
ther had removed from the advancing settlements of the 
Schuylkill to the unbroken forests of North Carolina. 
Boone alter his marriage plunged deeper into the wilder- 
ness — and with the characteristic fidelity of the sex, his 
wife followed the hazardous fortunes of her husband. 
On a remote and sequestered spot near the head waters 
of the Yadkin, he built cabins, and cleared fields, and 

* Boone '• was born aboutthe year 1746." Marshall, 1. 17. Flint's Life of Boone, 1. 

+ Boona's Narrative 1784. Am. Mus. 2, 321. 
o 
O 



18 

found employment for his rifle. But it was not long be- 
fore the tide of emigration, sweeping in every direction 
from the Atlantic coasts, reached the frontier of North 
Carolina; and Boone found himself in imminent danjxer 
of being surrounded by civilized neighbors, whose settle- 
ments threatened to disturb the range and divide the 
empire of the wilderness. He became a discontented 
man; and after his imagination had been dazzled by 
Finley's description of his romantic excursion, he re- 
solved " to leave his family," to " resign his domestic 
happiness," to abandon " his peaceable habitation on 
the Yadkin," and become " a wanderer through the wil- 
derness of America, in quest of the country of Ken- 
tucke," several hundred miles distant from the colonial 
settlements, and swarming with savages, the implacable 
enemies of his race and nation ! How uncontrollable 
must have been the passion for adventure ! The result 
will show, that it was his " ruling passion, strong in 
death." 

The little party of half a dozen hunters with noother 
equipage than their knapsacks, and no weapons but their 
rifles, proceeded on the toilsome and perilous journey, un- 
til " on the 7th of June, after travelling," says Boone, 
" through a mountainous wilderness, in a western direc- 
tion, we found ourselves on Red river, where John Fin- 
ley had formerly been trading with the Indians, and from 
the top of an eminence saw with pleasure the beautiful 
level of Kentucke." 

After the marvellous accounts which Boone had re- 
ceived from Finley of the country in which he now found 
himself, we may well imagine what were the emotions 
that swelled the bosom of the satisfied adventurer, as 
from the top of the eminence on which he stood, he sur- 
veyed the beautiful and boundless level that for the first 



19 

time was presented to his view. It must indeed have 
been a bright and enrapturing prospect ! Kentucky lay 
before him in her matchless attractions ; in his own ex- 
pressive language, " a second paradise." All the visions 
of his imagination were realized at a glance. Boone 
was a lover of the beauties of nature, and has painted, 
himself, the picture of what he saw. He ''passed 
through a great forest, in which stood myriads of trees." 
" Nature was here," he continues, "a series of wonders 
and a fund of delight. She displayed her in:;cnuity and 
industry in a variety of flowers and fruits, beautifully 
colored, elegantly shaped, and charmingly flavored; and 
we were diverted with numberless animals, presenting 
themselves perpetually to our view." " Herds of buf- 
faloes, more numerous than the cattle of the settlements, 
browsed on the leaves of the cane and cropped the her- 
bage on those extensive plains. We saw hundreds in a 
drove." 

The party encamped on the Red river, one of the 
tributaries of the Kentucky ; and having made a shelter 
to defend them from ihc inclemency of a very rainy sea- 
son, " began to hunt and reconnoitre the country." 

On the 22d December, as Boone and Stuart rambled 
on the banks of the Kentucky river, a company of In- 
dians rushed out of a thick cane brake and made them 
prisoners. After seven days captivity and confinement, 
they were so fortunate as to make their escape ; and re- 
turning to their old camp, they found it plundered, and 
their comrades " dispersed or gone home." Neither 
history nor tradition furnishes any account of the fate 
of those men — 

*•' Nor trace nor tidings of their doom declare, 
Wliere lived their grief, or perished their despair." 

Finley was one of them ; and I do not discover that his 



20 

name is ever again mentioned in the annals of those 
times.* But their places were soon providentially sup- 
plied. "About this time," says Boone, from whose nar- 
rative I have extracted these details, " my brother Squire 
Boone and another adventurer, who came to explore the 
country shortly after us, were wandering through the 
forest, and accidentally found our camp." Without 
doubt it was a cheering accident, and the meeting must 
have been as cordial as it was unexpected : but its con- 
solations were of short duration. Soon after this fortu- 
nate accession to their numbers, John Stuart was killed 
by the savages, and " the man," continues the narra- 
tive, " who came with my brother, returned home by 
himself." 

The brothers were now left alone. The winter was 
far advanced, and it was necessary that something 
should be done to protect them from the weather. They 
built a small cottage, of such materials as their toma- 
hawks could supply, and occupied it, without molesta- 
tion, until the spring. 

With the year 1769, ended the first scene of the deep 
and bloody tragedy of the settlement of Kentucky. It 
was an ominous prelude to the events that were to follow, 
and mournfully prefigured that the future common- 
wealth was to be born in convulsions and baptized in 
blood. 

On the return of spring, the intrepid hunters found 
themselves involved in a very serious dilemma. Their 
store of ammunition was nearly exhausted, and their ri- 
fles were their only means of security and support. — 
Without them they must starve, or fall unarmed and 

* Of all the pioneers, the least justice has been done to Finley. And yet he was 
the first of them all. Would it not be one step toward rescuing him from undeserved 
obscurity, if the Legislature of Kentucky would avail itself of the first occasion that 
offers, to name a county after him? 



21 

defenceless under the hatchets of the savages. The im- 
prudence — nay the actual hazard — of a protracted delay 
in the wilderness became every passing day, more obvious 
and alarming. Still, the thought of surrendering their fa- 
vorite retreat — of exchanging their lonely and dangerous 
pastimes for the less acceptable enjoyments of domestic 
and social life, was painful to minds constituted as theirs 
were; and the alternative to which they resorted, display- 
ed another feature of the wonderful character of the back- 
woodsmen of that period. It was resolved that Squire 
Boone should revisit the settlements, return with all 
practicable despatch with horses and ammunition, and 
rejoin his brother at the camp. The arrangement hav- 
ing been made, the brothers exchanged a mournful leave, 
and after the lapse of a few days, Daniel Boone was a 
solitary wanderer in the wilderness of Kentucky. 

He has described in his autobiography, this interest- 
ing crisis of his life, in terms so touching and impressive, 
that I adopt his language. " On the 1st of May 1770," 
he relates, " my brother returned home for a new recruit 
of horses and ammunition, leaving me alone, without 
bread, salt or sugar, or even a horse or dog. I passed a 
few days uncomfortably. The idea of a beloved wife 
and family, and their anxiety on my account, would have 
disposed me to melancholy, if I had further indulged the 
thought." 

The thought was not indulged by the " rough stoic of 
the woods." If his mind did sometimes revert to the 
distant inmates of his " peaceable habitation on the 
Yadkin," the homage of a momentary sigh was all that 
was consistent with his nature or his destiny to pay to 
the endearments of the domestic circle. He was alone, 
in the midst of a howling wilderness, where every object 
that he saw admonished him, thit he must encourage 



22 

other feelings than those of melancholy and gloom. If 
there ever was a time in the evolution of his wayward for- 
tunes, when he stood in need of all his vigilance and self- 
possession, this was that time. His movements were 
watched — his trail was pursued — his camp, during inter- 
vals of his absence, was visited by the Indians. Every 
flying moment was a moment of peril to his life. 

But with all this, there was much in the peculiar cir- 
cumstances that surrounded him, to inspire him with res- 
olution — to give buoyancy to his spirits and excitement 
to his mind. The energies of his body derived ample 
support from the prosecution of his discoveries and the 
employments of the chase ; and his fancy revelled in the 
pleasures of those picturesque scenes that were daily 
unfolding and dissolving before his sight. With the pen- 
cil of an artist he has pourtrayed one of those scenes. 

" One day I undertook a tour through the country, 
when the diversity of the beauties of nature I met with, 
in this charming season," (it was in the month of May, 
1770,) "expelled every gloomy thought. Just at the close 
of day * * * * I had gained the summit of a com- 
manding ridge, and looking around with astonishing de- 
light, beheld the ample plains and beauteous tracts be- 
low. On one hand I surveyed the Ohio, rolling in silent 
dignity, and marking the western boundary of Kentucke, 
with inconceivable grandeur : At a vast distance I beheld 
the mountains lift their venerable brows and penetrate 
the clouds. All things were still. I kindled a fire near 
a fountain of sweet water, and feasted on the loins of a 
buck which a few hours before I had killed. * * =* 
My excursion had fatigued my body and amused my 
mind. I laid me down to sleep and did not awake until 
the sun had chased away the night." — He concludes this 
vivid and beautiful description by declaring, that " no 



23 

populous city, with all the varieties of commerce and 
stately structures, could afford him so much pleasure, 
as the beauties of nature he found in this country." * 

On the 27th July, Squire Boone returned, according 
to his engagement, to the old encampment. He came, 
as he had gone, alone, — bringing with him the " horses 
and ammunition," which it was the object of his visit to 
the settlements to procure. That he should have cher- 
ished even the most latent expectation of finding his 
brother alive on his return, bespeaks a confidence in his 
destiny, which not all the skill of Daniel Boone, accom- 
plished as he was in the arts of Indian warfare, could 
justify. Miracles were not wrought in the eighteenth 
century to assure mankind of a Divine agency in human 
affairs; and who could have supposed, that any other 
doom but that of extermination, awaited the bold usurper 
of the Indian hunting ground — wandering from prefer- 
ence of a hunter's life, companionless, in a distant and 
savage wilderness — depending upon his rifle for food — 
upon the beasts of the forest for raiment — and for per- 
sonal safety upon the subtlety with which he avoided 
danger, and the valor and dexterity with which, when 
present, he met or repelled it — above all, marked and 
hunted as a victim by artful and fiendlike foes, instigat- 
ed to vengeance by a keen sense of wrong inflicted by 
the invasion of a favorite domain, from which they had 
not yet been driven by the power of the white man? — 
Yet Daniel Boone lived to act his part in the future con- 
quest of Kentucky; and from the period of his brother's 
return until the ensuing spring, the self exiled hunters 
continued to explore the country — giving names in their 
progress to the diflerent rivers — and in March 1771, 
retraced their steps to North Carolina with a determina- 

* Sen Appendix, note B. 



24 

tion to bring their families as soon as practicable to the 
wilderness. 

There for the present I leave them. Other actors 
now appear on the stage, and events in other quarters 
demand attention. 

In the interval between the first successful exploration 
of Kentucky in 1767 and the commencement of the 
year 1770, intelligence had extensively spread through 
Virginia and North Carolina of the character of the 
region west of the Alleghany, and the attention of en- 
terprizing men was strongly attracted by it. In the lat- 
ter year, a party of forty hunters from Holston, Clinch 
and New rivers, conducted by Colonel James Knox, 
equipped themselves and set off on an expedition on this 
side of the Cumberland mountain. Nine only reached 
Kentucky. Passing through what is now famiharly 
known as the middle section of the State, they explored 
the country lying on the Cumberland and Green rivers 
and returned home after a protracted and arduous jour- 
ney. They subsequently became distinguished from 
other exploring parties of that adventurous period by the 
appellation of " the long hunter sP 

From various causes Boone lingered on the Yadkin 
until the 25th September, 1773. In the meantime the 
spirit of emigration and enterprize was roused in Vir- 
ginia, and several surveying and exploring parties visited 
the wilderness in the spring of that year; whose move- 
ments, as this was an intermediate space of time be- 
tween the discovery and settlement of Kentucky, de- 
serve particular notice. 

In May, 1773, Thomas Bullitt, Hancock Taylor, 
James, George, and Robert M'Afee, James McCoun, Jr. 
and Samuel Adams — all citizens of Virginia — descended 
the Ohio river in canoes, with the intention of appropri- 



25 

ating lands and making settlements. The party contin- 
ued in company until they reached the confluence of the 
Kentucky with the Ohio river. There they separated. 
Captain Bullitt pursued his voyage to the falls of Ohio, 
where he encamped above the mouth of Beargrass, and 
in the following August laid off the present flourishing 
city of Louisville. He surveyed also Bullitt's Lick in 
the county which was afterwards called after his name. 

Taylor and the McAfees proceeded up the Louisa or 
Kentucky river, about twenty one miles, to the junction 
of Drennon's creek, on the bank of which, after they 
had ascended it a short distance, they discovered a lick 
adjacent to a fine medicinal spring. There they met 
one of their comrades,* who had ventured to cross the 
country from some point on the Ohio, in anticipation of 
the arrival of the party : from which circumstance, 1 
suppose, Drennon's Lick acquired the name by which it 
is now known as one of the most agreeable and salu- 
tary watering places of the west. 

In quick pursuit t of Bullitt and Ta3'lor, another sur- 
veyor, James Douglass, descended the Ohio river to the 
falls. He stopped at the mouth of one of its small trib- 
utaries, and went " over land a mile and a half" to the 
celebrated Big Bone Lick, in the county of Boone, where 
he paused for a time, to examine the rare and wonder- 
ful spectacle that the spot exhibited. The remains of 
the Mastodon, accounts of whose existence in North 
America were once regarded as fabulous, were found scat- 
tered in great number around a spacious mineral spring. 



•The name of the individual was Drennon — Butler 24. Marshall makes no men- 
tion of this circumstance, 

t The exact time is no where stated, by either Butler or Marshall. They both say, 
" during the same year"— and the latter adds, "in the rear of Capt. Bullitt." Marth. 
1,37. Butler 22. 



26 

"Here," says the Historian,* "Douglass remained, 
forming his tent poles of the ribs of the enormous ani- 
mals that formerly frequented this remarkable spot, and 
on these ribs blankets were stretched for a shelter from 
the sun and rain. Many teeth were from eight to nine 
and some ten feet in length ; one in particular, was fast- 
ened in a perpendicular direction in the clay and mud, 
with the end six feet above the surface of the ground, 
and so deep that an effort was made by six men in vain 
to extract it. The lick extended to about ten acres of 
land, bare of timber, grass or herbage, and so much 
trodden; and eaten, as to be depressed below the original 
level. * * * * Through the midst of the lick ran the 
creek, and on each side of it a never failing stream of 
salt water, whose fountains were in the open field. To 
this lick, from all parts of the neighboring country were 
diverging roads made by the wild animals that resorted 
to it for the salt, of which both the earth and water 
were impregnated." 

Leaving Drennon's Lick, the party of the McAfees 
took one of the traces — for so they were called by the 
early settlers — opened by the buffaloes through the for- 
ests and canebrakes in their peregrinations from one 
watering place to another; and crossed the Kentucky 
river at a ford half a mile below Frankfort, near the 
spot now covered by one of the noblest public works of 
the age. They surveyed and appropriated on the 16th 
July, 1773, six hundred acres of land, including the val- 
ley in which Frankfort is situated. It was the first sur- 
vey ever made on the Kentucky river. 

These are minute details : but they indicate the pro- 
gress of events during an interesting period in the an- 

• Butler 22. 



27 

nals of Kentucky. It would be an agreeable employ- 
ment to follow the movements of these enterprising ad- 
venturers, with the same minuteness of detail along the 
whole line of their journey. Their achievements entitle 
them to be classed with the earliest and most distin- 
guished pioneers of the State, and to be remembered, 
on this occasion, by the sons and daughters of the pio- 
neers with peculiar pride. The names of the Taylors 
and McAfees are bright and honored names in our his- 
tory. But the limits assigned to an address like this 
require, that I should pass over much, that it is the pro- 
vince of the historian to record. 

The company prosecuted their journey from the 
mouth of Benson in the direction to Lexington — crossed 
the Kentucky river several miles above Frankfort — pro- 
ceeded westwardly until they discovered Salt river : and 
descending that river to the mouth of Hammond's 
creek, they surveyed from thence to the mouth of the 
stream on which Harrodsburgh stands. Taylor now 
left them to join Captain Bullitt at the falls, and the 
party of the McAfees shaped their course homeward to- 
ward the Cumberland Gap. The former, a surveyor by 
profession, v/as necessarily much exposed to attack^by 
the Indians, and fell, on the banks of the Kentucky river, 
a victim to their ferocity. The latter, having survived 
all the obstacles and perils of their way-faring, reached 
their homes in safety — removed with their families to 
Kentucky in 1779 — built McAfees' station in the pre- 
sent county of Mercer ; and maintained a character of 
the highest respectability for intelligence, patriotism and 
piety, which they transmitted to their children. 

Towards the close of the year, 1773,* John Floyd 

* Marsh. 1, 38. Butler O.*). It may be, however, not until the year following. Of 
the latter opinion is Mr. Nathaniel flart, Sen., of Woodford— who is in poiissiion of 
any of Col. Floyd's papers. 



28 

came to Kentucky, like Bullitt and Taylor, on a survey- 
ing excursion. A deputy ol Col. Williaiu Preston, prin- 
cipal surveyor of Fincastle county — of which the region 
in Virginia, west of the mountains, was then a part — 
he made many surveys on the Ohio, and belonged to 
the party that was recalled by Lord Dunmore,* in con- 
sequence of the dangers attending the performance of 
their official duties. Col. Floyd returned in 1775, and 
became a conspicuous actor in the stirring scenes of the 
drama. Alternately a surveyor, a legislator and a sold- 
ier, his distinguished qualities rendered him at once an 
ornament and a benefactor of the infant settlements. 
No individual among the pioneers was more intellectual 
or better informed; none displayed, on all occasions that 
called for it, a bolder and more undaunted courage. His 
person was singularly attractive. With a complexion 
unusually dark, his eyes and hair were deep black, and 
his tall spare figure was dignified by the accomplish- 
ments of a well bred Virginia gentleman.t Connecting 
himself with the fortunes of the Transylvania company, 
he became their principal surveyor, and was chosen a 
delegate from the town of St. Asaph to the assembly 
that met at Boonesborough, on the 24th May, 1775, to 
make laws for the infant colony. He accompanied 
Boone in the pursuit and rescue of his daughter and her 
companions, whom the savages had decoyed and cap- 
tured in July, 1776 — and his cotemporaneous account of 
that thrilling occurrence does equal credit to his soldier- 
ship and his pen.f In all the stations, civil and milita- 
ry, to which he was called, he acquitted himself with 
honor, and came at last to violent death by the hands 
the of savages in 1783. n 



* Marsh. 1, 38. t Mar . 1, 38. J See Appendix— Note C, 



29 

The current of emigration in the year 1774, was 
checked by the troubles in which Virginia was involved 
with the Indians by her then Governor, I^ord Dunmore. 
The preparations for the campaign which terminated 
with the bloody battle of Point Pleasant on the 10th Oc- 
tober, had absorbed the thoughts of the western adven- 
turers, and hundreds flew to the standard of Virginia. 
But still there were accessions to the ranks of the emi- 
grants, and among them there came, in the early part of 
that year, an individual, who possessing qualities of a 
high and generous nature, is conspicuous in history, as 
the builder of the " first log cabin," that was ever raised 
in the wilderness of Kentucky. The individual I speak 
of is — James Harrod. Bold, resolute, athletic, — in- 
ured to the life of a backwoodsman, — familiar with its 
dangers and capable of supporting its hardships — he was 
singularly adapted to the position that he was to occupy. 
His open, manly countenance — his robust, commanding 
person, inspired confidence both in his integrity and 
prowess, and his conciliatory address won for him the 
respect and afl[ection of his associates. Expert in the 
use of the rifle, he was a successful hunter, and a skillful 
and dangerous antagonist of the Indian. If he w^as an 
unlettered, he was not an ignorant man. The defects of 
his education were supplied by the masculine energy of 
his natural endowments, and at a period when the culti- 
vation of the intellect was not only impracticable but 
was deemed subordinate to the discipline of the body, 
his claim of rank, as a leader of the pioneers, was uni- 
versally allowed. His attention to the safety and wants 
of his companions was as unremitted, as his magnanimity 
was proverbial. If he received information that a party 
of hunters had been surprised by the savages, — "Let us 
go and beat the red rascals," was his instantaneous or- 



30 

der ; and the command and its execution were synony- 
mous with him. If a plough horse were missing — having 
strayed from the station, — and the owner, unaccustomed 
to the range, or unwilling to encounter the risk of ma- 
king search for him, was idle in consequence, Harrod 
would disappear, and it would not be long before the horse 
would be driven to the owner's premises. Of a restless 
and active temperament, the dull routine of life in a sta- 
tion, was unsuited to him. He loved, like Boone, the 
free and unrestrained occupation of a hunter. While 
others were standing still for want of employment, dis- 
daining repose he would range through the forest, hunt 
the wild game, or attach himself to expeditions into the 
Indian country or exploring parties on the frontier. Hav- 
ing built his cabin on the scite of the beautiful village 
of Harrodsburnrh in the spring or summer of 1774, we 
find him on the 10th October with Colonel Lewis at the 
Point, giving, by a decisive victory over the north-west- 
ern tribes of savages, a death blow to their supremacy. 
On the return of spring he is again at his chosen station 
in the wilderness, fortifying himself against their inroads, 
and as we shall presently see, representing his little set- 
tlement in the Trans} Ivania Assembly. Thence forward 
Harrodsburg became a prominent place of refuge and 
resort : and she has never ceased to insist upon the va- 
lidity of her claims to precedence, as the honored spot of 
the first settlement of Kentucky. 

Harrod survived the stormy scenes of his manhood. 
But age could not tranquilize the restless elements of his 
character. In after times when peace and quiet had 
ensued, and the range of the buflalo was filled up with a 
civilized and enterprizing population, and he had become 
the father of an interesting family, the veteran pioneer 
would turn away from the scenes of domestic and social 



31 

life, and plunge again into the solitudes of the wilderness, 
to indulge himself in the cherished enjoyments of his 
earlier years. From one of those excursions, into a dis- 
tant part of the country, he never returned. 

Such are some of the outlines of the character of 
James Harrod — one of the pioneers of Kentucky. It 
gives me pleasure to add that his venerable relict, the 
faithful partner of his difficult fortunes — still lives, to en- 
joy, in the midst of posterity, the affectionate regards of 
all who know her. 

Simon Kenton was another of those brave and enter- 
prising spirits who, in the year 1774, commenced his re- 
markable career among the early emigrants. It is not 
my purpose to bestow on it any other than a passing no- 
tice. It would be a vain attempt on my part to give new 
interest to a character, which has been drawn before me 
by an accomplished hand.* Commencing with his flight 
from the home of his childhood — caused by a mistaken 
impression of the issue of a boyish rencontre with his 
rival for a lady's affections, which induced him to re- 
nounce his paternal name of Butler and assume that by 
which alone he is known in history, — and closing with 
the peace of 1794, his career exhibits those wonderful 
alternations of good and bad fortune — of bold adven- 
ture — of desperate conflicts with the savages — of cap- 
ture — imprisonment — torture and escape — which no- 
where can be found so strongly exemplified as in the 
eventful annals of the settlers of Kentucky. Destitute 
of every polite accomplishment, either of mind or man- 
ners, and cast upon the arena of life under circumstan- 
ces extremely unpropitious to success, — few men were 
better taught in the knowledge of the world, or the wiles 

* Mr. McClung, in his Sketches of Western Adventure. 



32 

of Indian warfare ; and few of his associates maintained 
a more respectable rank in society. He lived to witness 
the wonderful transformation which the lapse of a few 
years produced in the manners and condition of the in- 
habitants of the west ; to see the wilderness converted 
into a cultivated garden and parcelled off into powerful 
and prosperous States — and to find a reward, for all his 
toils and sacrifices, in the consciousness of having con- 
tributed to the happiness of millions of his fellow-men. 

From the fall of 1773 to the commencement of 1775, 
the emigrants from North Carolina associated with 
Boone, remained in a great degree stationary. They 
had made an effort to penetrate into Kentucky, but were 
driven back by the Indians, and kept by them in check, 
in the settlements on Clinch river, during the whole of 
the year 1774. Boone was not, however, himself inac- 
tive. Having been made favorably known to Lord Dun- 
more, he was selected by him to repair to the rapids of 
the Ohio river, to conduct from thence the party of sur- 
veyors to whom allusion has been made, as having been 
recalled from their dangerous position on the frontier. 
The service was undertaken, and Boone, with Michael 
Stoner as his sole companion, traversed the pathless re- 
gion between the settlements and the falls, and piloted 
the party safely to Virginia. The remainder of the year 
was employed in the command of three frontier stations, 
to which he was assigned by Lord Dunmore, with the 
commission of captain. 

We are brought in the progress of events to the year 
1775, — a year memorable as the epoch of the first set- 
tlement of Kentucky — memorable for the struggle by 
which that settlement was maintained — memorable for 
the great events that were transpiring in other parts of 
the Continent. The elements were now gathering of 



33 

that fearful convulsion which shook the American Colo- 
nies to their centre, and subsided with the acknowledg- 
ment of the independence of our country. Misled by 
the counsels of an infatuated Ministry, the Parliament 
of Great Britain had assumed pretensions to which no 
people on earth could submit and be free ; and born to 
freedom, the inhabitants of the colonies were not the 
men to surrender its blessings without a conflict. The 
battle of Lexington, on the 19ih of April, 1775, severed 
one of the ties that bound us to the parent countr}^, and 
in the succeeding month of May, the second Provincial 
Congress convened at Philadelphia. While these events 
were in progress on the eastern side of the mountains, 
and were absorbing the attention of the people there, 
Boone and a party of bold companions, were cutting 
their way through the wilderness to Boonesborough ; and 
while the Congress at Philadelphia, on the 24th of May, 
had resolved themselves into a committee of the whole, 
to consider the State of America, a miniature assembly 
of seventeen representatives of the hunters of Kentucky, 
were gravely considering, on the same day, and on the 
spot where we are now assembled, of the affairs of a 
" new born colony," of the existence of which the mem- 
bers of the Eastern assembly had probably never heard. 
The influence of the movements of these hardy emi- 
grants on the successful result of the great contest of our 
ancestors for independence, has never been fully appre- 
ciated. The bold and persevering attempts to settle 
Kentucky, by withdrawing the western tribes of sava- 
ges, from a participation in the efforts to subjugate the 
colonies to matters uf vital concernment to themselves, 
weakened, without doubt, the force of the blow aimed 
by Great Britain at American liberty, and thus contrib- 
uted to the success of the revolution. In the view thus 
5 



34 

presented, Kentucky is not without just claims to the 
rank, of having been, substantially, a portion of the 
confederacy of 1776. 

In the autumn of the year, 1774, there originated ia 
North Carolina, one of the most extraordinary schemes 
of ambition and speculation, which was exhibited in an 
age pregnant with such events. Eight private gentle- 
men — Richard Henderson, William Johnston, Nathan- 
iel Hart, John Luttrel, David Hart, John Williams, 
James Hogg, and Leonard Henley Bullock, conceived 
the project of purchasing a large tract of country in the 
west from the Cherokee Indians, and provisionary ar- 
rangements were made, with a view to the accomplish- 
ment of their object, for a treaty to be held with them 
in the ensuing year. This was the celebrated Transyl- 
vania company, which formed so singular a connexion 
with our early annals. In March, 1775, Colonel Hen- 
derson, on behalf of his associates, met the chiefs of the 
Cherokees, who were attended by twelve hundred war- 
riors, at a fort on the Wataga, the south eastern branch 
of the Holston river. Boone, by the solicitation of the 
company, was present at the treaty. A council was 
held, the terms were discussed, the purchase was con- 
summated. A deed of conveyance was solemnly exe- 
cuted, which, after reciting that the chiefs and head men 
of the Cherokees were " the Aborigines and sole owners, 
by occupanc}'^ from the beginning of time, of the lands 
on the waters of the Ohio river, from the mouth of the 
Tennessee river, up the said Ohio to the mouth or emp- 
tying of the great Canaway or New river, and so across 
by a southward line to the Virginia line, by a direction 
that shall strike the Holston river, six English miles 
above the long island therein," proceeds to convey to the 
grantees by name, for the consideration of ten thousand 



35 



pounds, the territory lying on the Ohio, " beginning at 
the mouth of Kentucky, Chenoca,* or what by the Eng- 
lish is called Louisa river — from thence running up the 
said river and the most northwardly branch of the same 
to the head spring thereof — thence a south east course to 
the top ridge of Powell's Mountain — thence westwardly 
along the ridge of said mountain unto a point from which 
a north west course will strike the head spring of the 
most southwardly branch of Cumberland river — thence 
down the said river, including all its waters, to the Ohio 
river — thence up the said river, as it meanders, to the 
beginning" — including the whole tract of country be- 
tween the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers. 

That this company contemplated the establishment of 
a separate and independent government, on terms of re- 
lationship to the government of Great Britain, not mate- 
rially dissimilar from the other colonies, is manifest from 
the whole tenor of their proceedings. Disregarding the 
principle, which, whether well or ill founded, Virginia 
had previously asserted by law, and which became the 
rule of action of the government of the United States, 
that the right to extinguish the Indian title to the soil, 
appertained to the sovereign alone, the Transylvania 
company claimed to derive their title by a valid purchase 
" from the Aborigines and immemorial possessors — the 
sole and uncontested owners of the country — in fair and 
open treaty, and without the violation of any British or 
American law." t This claim they set forth shortly 
after the establishment of the colony, accompanied with 



• I quote from the deed in Butler, Appendix 503, 2d Ed. Mr. Hal] (Skatchee 1, 
S5l) interpreti tbe word '* Chenoee." 

t Hall*! Skatchee, Appendix 2, 933. 



36 

a declaration " to give it up only with their lives, " in a 
memorial addressed to the continental congress of 1775, 
" requesting that Transylvania might be added to the 
number of united colonies." " Havino^ their hearts 
warmed with the same noble spirit that animates the 
colonies" — such is their language in the memorial — 
" and moved with indignation at the late ministerial and 
parliamentary usurpations, it is the earnest wish of the 
proprietors of Transylvania to be considered by the col- 
onies as brethren, engaged in the same great cause of 
/iberty and mankind. And, as by reason of several cir- 
cumstances, needless to be here mentioned, it was im- 
possible for the PROPRIETORS to call a convention of the 
settlers in such time as to have their concurrence laid 
before this congress, they here pledge themselves for 
them, that they will concur in the measures now adopt- 
ed by the proprietors. " 

Preparatory to the organization of a government for 
the new State, Boone was despatched to open a road 
from the settlements to Kentucky. " Having collected a 
number of enterprizing men," says the pioneer, "I soon 
began the work. We proceeded, till on the 20th March, 
we came within fifteen miles of where Boonesborough 
now stands — where the Indians attacked us and killed 
two and wounded two more." Three days afterward, 
they were again attacked and lost two other companions. 
Still they persevered, and without further molestation 
reached the Kentucky river. On the first of April, 
1775, they began to erect the fort. 

Of its plan and dimensions Boone gives no account. 
He speaks of it only as having been built "at a salt lick, 
sixty yards from the river." A diagram of it is extant, 
drawn by Colonel Henderson, which would place it ad- 
jacent to the river, with one of the angles resting on its 



37 

bank near the water, and extending from it in the form 
of a parallellogram. The dimensions of the enclosure 
are not specified; but "if we allow," says Mr. Hall, 
" an average of twenty feet for each cabin and opening, 
the len<Tth of the fort must have been about two hundred 
and sixty, and the breadth one hundred and fifty feet;" 
and this, it is supposed, is not an inaccurate estimate. 
In a few days after they began their work, one of the 
men was killed by the Indians, and it was not finished 
until the fourteenth of June, just two months and a half 
from the day of its commencement. 

On the first of April, Henderson and his associates ar- 
rived in Powell's Valley, one of the western settlements 
of North Carolina, attended by forty armed men,* and 
as many pack horses. They were on their way to 
Boonesborough, the future seat of government of the ter- 
ritory, 'i hey moved slowly, however, for on the eighth 
of April they were still in the valley. There, it has been 
said,t they fell in with Colonel Benjamin Logan, who 
was allured by the glittering prospects presented by the 
newly discovered country to men of enterprize, and was 
journeying in the same direction. The two parties trav- 
elled m company for several days, but took different 
routes on their arrival in Kentucky. Logan turned his 
course westwardly in the direction to St. Asaph, in the 
present county of Lincoln — where he settled himself and 
built a station, which was called after him. Henderson 
pursued the road which Boone had opened to the place of 
his destination. 

The removal of Colonel Logan to Kentucky was an 

* Mr. tiall adds — '' And an additional number, probably of non-coinbatanu."-*-^ 
Sketches 1, 253. 

t Marsh. I. 



38 

event of such importance as to require something more 
than a passing notice. It was scarcely possible for an 
individual of pretensions like his, to have attached him- 
self to the exposed settlements in 1775, without taking 
an immediate position at the head of affairs. Like Boone 
arid Harrod and Kenton, he was uneducated ; but he had 
a quick perception of expedients — much prudence and 
caution — unyielding perseverance — determined valor ; 
and combining these necessary qualifications of a suc- 
cessful pioneer with superior strength and activity of 
person, he seemed to have been formed by nature for great 
emergencies. The life of a backwoodsman — beset with 
difficulties and dangers at every step,'put all these powers 
into constant and severe requisition. An incident or 
two, related by the historians, will illustrate the manner 
in which he acquitted himself on occasions that called 
for the display both of courage and conduct of the rarest 
kind. 

The year 1777, was a fearful and trying period in 
the affairs of the emigrants. There was an evident de- 
termination on the part of the savages, by a series of 
incursions, to annihilate the settlements, and thus put for- 
ever to rest the question of its permanent occupancy. 
Their purpose was indicated by successive attacks, of 
great violence and in large bodies, on the several sta- 
tions, and by the pertinacity with which those attacks 
were prolonged. On the 20th of May, 1777 — the his- 
torians have carefully preserved the date — Logan's fort 
was invested by a force of a hundred Indians, and on 
the morning of that day, as some of the females belong- 
ing to it were engaged, outside of the gate, in milking 
the cows, the men who acted as a guard for the occasion, 
were fired upon by a party of the Indians who had con- 
cealed themselves in a thick canebrake. One man fell 



39 

dead on the spot ; another was wounded mortally ; and a 
third so badly as to be disabled from making his escape. 
The latter, whose name was Harrison, after a violent 
exertion, ran a few paces, and fell. His struggles and 
exclamations attracted the notice and awakened the 
sympathies of the inmates of the station. The frantic 
grief of his wife gave additional interest to the scene. 
The heart of the sturdy pioneer, insensible to fear, was 
alive to the impulses of humanity ; and Logan resolved 
to save the life of his comrade at the hazard of his own. 
He appealed in vain to the men around him to join in an 
attempt to rescue their wounded friend. One man 
at length consented, and rushed with Logan from the 
fort ; but he had not gone far, before he shrunk from the 
imminence of the danger, and fled. Logan dashed on — 
alone and undaunted — reached, unhurt, the spot where 
Harrison lay agonized with his wound — threw him on 
his shoulders, and made a safe and triumphant retreat 
amidst incessant volleys of the enemy's fire arms. 

The siege was maintained with unusual obstinacy, and 
it was as obstinately resisted. One of the principal in- 
conveniences to which the settlers were sometimes ex- 
posed, was the difficulty of procuring powder and lead 
for their rifles. The want of those necessary articles 
began to be sensibly felt by the besieged party ; and their 
fears, arising from this circumstance, were heightened 
almost to despondency, when they reflected what little 
probability there was of obtaining them from the neighbor- 
ing stations. There were still no indications that the siege 
would be abandoned ; and a protracted resistance seemed 
impracticable. What hope was there for relief? The 
distant settlements on the Holston would furnish them 
with a supply; but who would venture to go there ? And 
even if men could be found rash and desperate enough 



40 

to undertake the journey, how improbable was it that 
the trip could be accomplished in time for the relief to 
be available ? Logan stepped forward, in this extremity 
of their condition, to become the savior of his little gar- 
rison. He left the fort under cover of the night, attend- 
ed by two faithful companions of his own selection, crept 
cautiously and safely through the Indian lines — moved 
with incredible rapidity over mountain and valley — ar- 
rived ai the settlement on the Holston — procured the 
necessary supply of powder and lead — immediately re- 
traced his steps, and was again in the fort in ten days 
from the time of his departure. He returned alone. The 
delay that would occur in the transportation of the stores, 
induced him to entrust them to the charge of his com- 
panions ; and his presence at St. Asaph was all impor- 
tant to the safety of its inhabitants. His return reani- 
mated their drooping hopes, and inspired a confidence 
which sustained them until they were relieved. 

When Col. Henderson arrived at Boonesborough, he 
found the fort unfinished. But he proceeded, without 
delay, to organize his government. He opened a land 
office — appointed its officers — and summoned a legisla- 
tive assembly to meet him at his capital, on the 23d 
May, 1775. The writs of election were directed to 
four stations or settlements — Boonesborough, Harrods- 
burgh, the Boiling Spring, and the town of St. Asaph. 

I'he delegates met on the day appointed. Boonesbo- 
rough was represented by Daniel Boone, Squire Boone, 
William Cocke, Samuel Henderson, William Moore, and 
Richard Callaway. Harrodsburgh, by Thomas Slaugh- 
ter, John Lythe, Valentine Harmon, and James Doug- 
lass. The Boiling Spring settlement, by James Harrod, 
Nathan Hammond, Isaac Hite, and Azariah Davis ; and 
the town of St. Asaph, by John Todd, Alexander Spots- 



41 

wood Dandridge, Jolin Floyd and JSamuel Wood — in 
all, seventeen. The assembly was organized by choos- 
ing unanimously Thomas Slaughter of Harrodsburg as 
Speaker, and Mathew Jouiti, Clerk. After the perform- 
ance of divine service by the Rev. Mr. Lythe, one of the 
delegates from Harrodsburg, the House waited on the 
proprietors to acquaint them of their proceedings ; and 
Colonel Henderson, in behalf of himself and his associ- 
ates, opened the Assembly with a speech, " a copy of 
which," says the journal, " to prevent mistakes, the 
Chairman procured." 

So singular a state paper — -addressed to so singular a 
body — deserves an attentive consideration. That the 
proprietors of the colony confided in the strength and 
integrity of their title to the soil which they purchased, 
and " were ordaining laws and regulations for the future 
conduct of the inhabitants thereof" in good faith, there 
is no valid reason to doubt. That the President was 
addressing a legislative body, convened from four towns 
or settlements, " in the fifteenth year of the reign of His 
Majesty King of Great Britian" — so their journal 
reads — and in a wilderness, which contained at the mo- 
ment a population not exceeding one hundred and fifty 
souls, must awaken solicitude to know what the speaker 
had to communicate. 

The attention of the Legislature is first called to the 
importance of the duties they were delegated to dis- 
charge, and their powers are distinctly traced to the 
only legitimate source of all political power — the people. 
'• You are called and assembled, at this time,"* said 
President Henderson, " for a noble and honorable pur- 
pose — a purpose, however ridiculous and idle it may 
appear at first view to superficial minds, yet is of the 



*Biieler, Appendix, second edition. 

6 



42 

most solid consequence — and if prudence, firmness, and 
wisdom are suffered to influence your councils and direct 
your conduct, the peace andjharmony of thousands may 
be expected to result from your deliberations." 

"You are placing," he continued, " the first corner 
stone of an edifice, the height and magnificence of whose 
superstructure are now in the womb of futurity, and 
can only become great and glorious, in proportion to the 
excellence of its foundation. These considerations, gen- 
tlemen, will no doubt animate and inspire you with sen- 
timents worthy the grandeur of the subject." 

He then referred them to "their peculiar circumstan- 
ces in a remote country, surrounded on all sides with 
difficulties, and equally subject to one common danger, 
threatening their common overthrow," and suggested 
that such a consideration should "secure to them an 
union of interests, and consequently that harmony of 
opinion, so essential to the forming of good, wise and 
wholesome laws" — and proceeded to say : "If any doubt 
remain amongst you, with respect to the force and effi- 
cacy of whatever laws you now or hereafter make, 
be pleased to consider that all power is originally in 
the people ; make it their interest, therefore, by impar- 
tial and beneficial laws, and you may be sure of their 
inclination to see them enforced." 

After some further general observations, the business 
part of the address is taken up : and in calling their at- 
tention to the objects of their legislation, he specified 
" as the first in order, from its importance, the estab- 
lishing of Courts of Justice or tribunals for the pun- 
ishment of such as may oflfend against the laws," and 
" recommends the most dispassionate attention, while 
they take for their guide as much of the spirit and gen- 
ius of the laws of England as can be interwoven with 



43 

those of this country ;" for, lie added, " we are all Eng- 
lishmen, or what amounts to the same, our selves and 
our fathers for many generations, have experienced the 
invaluable blessings of that excellent constitution." 

He then proposed the adoption of " some plain and 
easy method for the recovery of debts, and determining 
matters of dispute in respect to property, torts and in- 
juries;" and moved with just indignation by a procla- 
motion of Lord Dunmore, in which he denounced " one 
Richard Hejiderson^ and other disorderly persons his asso- 
ciates, who under pretence of a purchase from the In- 
dians, contrary to the aforesaid orders and regulations 
of his Majesty, do set up a claim to the lands of the 
crown within the limits of the colony" of Virginia, the 
President of Transylvania thus enforces his recommen- 
dation of " a method for the recovery of debts" and " de- 
termining matters in dispute in respect to property and 
torts" — " These things are so essential," he declared, 
" that if not strictly attended to, our name will become 
odious abroad, and our peace of short and precarious du- 
ration. It would give honest and disinterested persons 
cause to suspect, that there were some colorable reason 
at least for the unworthy and scandalous assertions, to- 
gether with the groundless insinuations, contained in an 
infamous and scurrilous libel lately printed and publish- 
ed concerning the settlement of this country — the author 
of which avails himself of his station, and under the spe- 
cious pretence of a proclamation, pompously dressed up 
and decorated in the garb of authority, has uttered in- 
vectives of the most malignant kind; and endeavors to 
wound the good name of persons, whose moral character 
would derive little advantage by being placed in competi- 
tion with his; charging them amongst other things equally 
untrue, with a design "of forming an asylum for debtors 



44 

and other persons of desperate circumstances — placing 
the proprietors of the soil at the head of a lawless train 
of abandoned villianr,, against whom the regal authority 
ought to be exerted, and every possible measure taken to 
put an immediate stop to so dangerous an enterprize." 

His next topic was " the establishing and regulating a 
militia" — which he justly regarded " as of the greatest 
importance." " Nothing I am persuaded," he said, " but 
the entire ignorance of the savage Indians of our weak- 
ness and want of order, has hitherto preserved us from 
the destructive and rapacious hands of cruelty, and 
given us at this time an opportunity of forming secure 
defensive plans, to be supported and carried into execu- 
tion by the authority and sanction of a well-digested 
law." 

Lastly, he adverted to " sundry other things highly 
worthy of their consideration — and dem.anding redress." 
Among them he suggested, "' the wanton destruction of 
our game, the only support of life among many of us, 
and for want of which the country would be abandoned 
ere to morrow, and scarcely a probability remain of its 
ever becoming the habitation of any christian people." 
And he concluded with the usual assurance of the con- 
currence of the proprietors in every measure, Vv^hich 
could, " in the most distant and remote degree, pro- 
mote the happiness or contribute to the grandeur, of the 
new-born country." 

Such were the topics of the first speech ever delivered 
to a legislative assembly on this side of the Alleghany 
mountains. The tone of its sentiments was manlv and 
dignified — its argument sensible and persuasive — its sug- 
gestions were well chosen and judiciously adapted to 
the condition of the settlements — and in one respect it 
is a model of executive messages of modern times — it 



45 

was not too long for general perusal. We cannot but 
observe however that the measures recommended by 
Col. Henderson, with so much earnestness, were inten- 
ded for a more advanced stage of his republic; for it is 
not very easy to perceive how laws for the establish- 
ment of courts of justice — the recovery of debts, and 
the training of militia, could be efficiently executed in a 
community of such limited population — the whole of 
which were enclosed within the walls of four stations — 
each remote from the others — and subject to hourly as- 
saults by a savage foe. 

The assembly responded to the speech of the Presi- 
dent in terms of the most respectful confidence, accord- 
ing to the manner that obtained in our own government 
when Washington was at its head, and appointed Mr. 
Todd, Mr. Cocke, and Mr. Harrod a committee to pre- 
sent their answer. The answer assured the proprietors, 
" that their speech had been received, with minds truly 
thankful, for the attention and care they had expressed 
towards the good people of the infant colony ;" claimed 
for the assembly the "absolute right, as a political body, 
without giving umbrage to Great Britain or any of the 
colonies, to frame rules for the government of their lit- 
tle society;" declared that "the establishing tribunals 
of justice should be a matter of their first contempla- 
tion," that it would be "their chief care to copy after 
the happy pattern of the English laws;" that " next to 
the restraint of immorality, their attention would be di- 
rected to the relief of the injured as well as the credit- 
or," in order that it might not be " in the power of ca- 
lumny and scurrility to say, " that their country was an 
asylum for debtors or any disorderly persons ;" promised 
" to be cautious to preserve the game," and " to regu- 



46 

late the militia as well as the infancy of their institu- 
tions would permit." 

The President expressed, in a formal reply, " the in- 
finite satisfaction" of the proprietors, " on the happy 
presage of the future felicity of the infant colony;" and 
avowed his confidence "that every difficulty must give 
way to perseverance, whilst their zeal for the public 
good, was tempered with that moderation and unanimi- 
ty of opinion, so apparent in the conduct" of the assem- 
bly. 

After these polite interchanges of official courtesy, 
the House, (for there was but one body,) commenced 
its business. 

I cannot, I think, be mistaken in supposing, that some 
curiosity has been excited to look into the proceedings 
of this anomalous assembly ; to ascertain with what fi- 
delity they attended to the proposals of the President's 
speech, and what laws were deemed by them necessary, 
" to promote the happiness and contribute to the grand- 
eur of the new-born country." A few extracts from 
their journal, will be satisfactory. 

On motion made, leave was given to Mr. Todd to 
bring in a bill for the establishment of courts of judica- 
ture, and regulating the practice therein ; and it was or- 
dered that Mr. Todd, Mr. Dandridge, Mr. Callaway and 
Mr. Henderson do bring in a bill for that purpose. 

On motion of Mr. Douglass, leave was given to bring 
in a bill for regulating a militia ; and a committee was 
appointed to prepare it, of which Col. Floyd was ap- 
pointed chairman. 

On motion of Mr. Daniel Boone, leave was given to 
bring in a bill '' for preserving game and so forth," and 
a committee was appointed for that purpose, of which 
Mr. Daniel Boone was chairman. 



47 

These measures having been reported and read the 
first time, the House adjourned. 

On the next day Mr. Robert M'Afee was chosen ser- 
geant at arms : and the first order that appears on the 
journal is, "That the sergeant at arms bring .John Guess 
before the convention to answer for an insult offered Col* 
Richard Callaway." 

The bills that had been reported on yesterday were 
now read a second time ; and by leave of the House 
several others were introduced; among them a bill by 
Mr. Todd " for establishing writs of attachment," 
" which was read by the clerk and passed the first time." 

The Rev. Mr. Lythe, obtained leave to bring in a bill 
Xo prevent prof ane sioearing and Sabbath breaking. After 
it was read the first time, it was ordered, says the jour- 
nal, " to be recommitted ; and that Mr. Lythe, Mr. 
Todd and Mr. Harrod be a committee to make amejid- 
ments.^^ 

Mr. Todd, Mr. Lythe, Mr. Douglass and Mr. Hite 
were appointed a committee, to draw up a compact be- 
tween the proprietors and the people of the colony. 

Mr. Guess was then brought before the assembly and 
was reprimanded by the speaker. 

Mr. Todd and Mr. Harrod were appointed a commit- 
tee, to wait on the proprietors to know what name for 
the colony would be agreeable : and reported that it was 
their pleasure, that it should be called Transylvania. 

A bill for improving the breed of horses ''was brought 
in by Captain Boone'''' — which was read and referred for 
consideration. 

A bill for the punishment of criminals was also re- 
ported, and 

On motion of Squire Boone leave was given to bring 
in a bill io preserve the range. 



48 

The several bills referred to were passed — signed by 
the proprietors, and became laws. 

After a session of three days, the assembly adjourned 
until the first Thursday of the following September ; but 
before their adjournment, a solemn compact* between 
the proprietors and the people of the colony — declaring 
" the powers of the one and the liberties of the other" — 
was signed and sealed by Richard Henderson, Nathan- 
iel Hart and John Luttrell, representing the company, 
and on behalf of the colonists by Thomas Slaughter, 
speaker of the assembly. 

The enquiry presents itself, where did this assembly 
of the primitive legislators of Kentucky hold its ses- 
sions? A manuscript diary of the events of that inter- 
esting period, kept by Col. Henderson himself, has been 
recently brought to light, after an obscurity of more than 
half a century, and furnishes an answer to the question. 
" About fifty yards from the (Kentucky) river," says 
that journal of the 13th May, ten days before the as- 
sembly met, " behind my camp and (near) a fine spring 
a little to the west, stands one of the finest elms, that 
perhaps nature ever produced. This tree is produced 
on a beautiful plain, surrounded by a turf of fine white 
clover, forming a green to its very stock. The trunk is 
about lour feet through to the first branches, which are 
about nine feet from the ground. From thence it regu- 
larly extends its large branches on every side, at such 
equal distances as to form the most beautiful tree that 
imagination can suggest. The diameter of the branches 
from the extreme end is one hundred feet ; and every fair 
day, it describes a semicircle on the heavenly green 
around it, of upwards of four hundred feet in circuit. 

*See Appendix — note E. 



49 

At any time between the hours of ten and two, one hun- 
dred persons may commodiously seat themselves under 
its branches. This divine tree, or rather one of the proofs 
of the existence from all eternity of its divine author, is 
to be our church, our council chamber," and he might 
have added — hall of legislation — for it was under its can- 
opy, that the legislature of Transylvania met to delib- 
erate. 

On the day succeeding that of their adjournment, 
" divine service," the same journal records, " was per- 
formed by the Rev. Mr. Lythe, of the church of Eng- 
land." And it was under the shade of the same mag- 
nificent elm, that the voices of these rude hunters, rose 
in accents of prayer and thanksgiving to the God of their 
fathers — that the verdant groves of the land of the sav- 
age and the buffalo, first rang with the anthems of the 
christian's worship, and echoed back the message of the 
Redeemer of the world. It was fit it should be so. 

*'The groves were God's first temples: Ere man learned 

To hew the shaft and lay the architrave, 

And spread the roof above him; ere he framed 

The lofty vault to gather and roll back 

The sound of anthems — in the darkling wood 

Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down 

And offered to the mightiest, solemn thanks 

And supplication." 

But the time was rapidly approaching when the glow- 
ing visions of the Transylvania company were to be dis- 
solved in air. Virginia when she was a colony had de- 
clared by law,* " that the agents of the crown alone 
could purchase from the Indians, and that such purcha- 
ses should be for the public benefit :" and the declara- 
tion of Independence having transferred to the Common- 

*S«e Girardin's History of Virginia, 342. 



50 

wealth all the rights of the crown, the same exclusive 
privilege of purchasing the lands of the natives, was 
asserted in her constitution of 1776. Three years had 
not elapsed from the date of that instrument, before the 
title of the Transylvania company was annulled by a 
solemn legislative act. But Col. Henderson and his 
companions had rendered an important service to the 
State. Their extinguishment of the Indian title enured 
by law to her benefit. They had contributed largely to 
the settlement and defence of the western frontier ; and 
as an indemnification for " their charge and trouble and 
for all advantage to the Commonwealth therefrom," a 
tract of land twelve miles square and containing two 
hundred thousand acres, situated on the Ohio below the 
mouth of the Green river, was granted to them by the 
legislature of Virginia in October 1778. 

In the year 1775, intelligence was received by a party 
of hunters who were accidently encamped on one of the 
branches of Elkhorn, that the first battle of the revolu- 
tion had been fought in the vicinity of Boston between 
the British and provincial forces, and in commemoration 
of the event, they called the spot of their encampment 
— Lexington. That spot is now covered by one of the 
most beautiful inland cities on the continent. But no 
settlement was then made. Boonesborough and Har- 
rodsburgh continued to be the prominent places of secu- 
rity, and consequently of rendezvous for the thickening 
crowds of emigrants and travellers to the wilderness. 
Prior to the fall of this year, no females had ventured 
across the mountains. The pioneers now determined to 
bring their families to the stations. "Soo?i after the 
14th of June, 1775," says Boone, *' I removed my fam- 
ily to the fort ;" and he adds, that "his wife and daugh- 
ters were the first white women that stood on the banks 



51 

of the Kentucky river." The first domestic circle of 
Harrodsburgh uas formed by Mrs. Denton, Mrs. Mc- 
Gary, and Mrs. Hogan in the month of September 1775. 
They attended their husbands, who came from the back- 
woods of North CaroHna, and who had joined Boone's 
company in Powell's Valley when he was removing his 
family to Boonesborough. The companies parted at the 
head of Dick's river.* So that Mrs. Boone, Mrs. Mc- 
Gary, Mrs. Denton and Mrs. Hogan came to Kentucky 
together, and the fame of the adventure belongs equally 
to them all. It was an adventure, indeed, of consummate 
daring! Where in the annals of female heroism, shall 
we find its parallel ? Laying for the moment out of 
view the hazards of the journey — what shall we say of 
its terrors, its exposures, its fatigues? The intrepidity 
of the female character in moments of extremity of dis- 
tress or danger, has become proverbial among men. But 
here was intrepidity of another sort. Here was a vol- 
untary and deliberate encounter of scenes of hardship 
and of suffering — it might be of violence, cf torture and 
of death — from which the stout hearted pioneer himself 
might well have recoiled with dread. To us who hve in 
the present age of unexampled improvement — when the 
comforts of life spring up with magical rapidity around 
us — when by the powerful and familiar agency of steam, 
space and distance have been overcome — when the 
mountains, no longer barriers to social and commercial 
intercourse, have bent their lofty heads at the behest 
and for the convenience of man — when artificial high- 
ways, as smooth and almost as level as the pavements 
of a city, radiate from the centre to the extremities of 
a populous republic, the realities of such an adventure 

*Butler, page 29. 



52 

are wholly beyond conception. There was no array of 
chariots and equipage to conduct the dauntless band of 
female emigrants to the " country of Kentucke." There 
were no joyous faces of friends and acquaintance, to wel- 
come them with smiles to the " dark and bloody ground." 
Their prospects were not brightened with the hope, of 
finding comfort and tranquility when they reached their 
journey's end. No. Their journeying was on foot or 
on the pack-saddle. The reception that awaited them 
might for aught they knew, be the bloody welcome of 
the fierce and infuriate savage. The long and dreary 
vista before them was overhung with dark and dreadful 
forebodings, of surprise and pillage and murder by the 
way. Yet these valiant mothers of a race as brave 
came to the wilderness ! Sons and daughters of Ken- 
tucky what a parentage may you boast ! 

Col. Richard Callaway removed his family to Boones- 
borough during the same fall. Several other families 
came with him; and in March, 1776, Mrs. Logan, the 
wife of Col. Logan, joined her husband at St. Asaph. 
There were other female accessions ; but these show 
that the pioneers had now secured a foothold in the coun- 
try, and that the practicability of its permanent settle- 
ment was no longer a matter of doubt. That desirable 
event, although it was not destined to be consummated 
without additional sacrifices on the part of the emigrants, 
was facilitated by the entrance on the theatre of his 
his usefulness and fame, of a great and illustrious actor 
"of whom it is proper that I should now speak. 

General George Rogers Clark came to Kentucky for 
the first time in 1775. His second visit was in the 
spring of 1776, when the minds of many of the inhab- 
itants were agitated by the claim of the Transylvania 



53 

company to the tract of country, over which, as we 
have seen, they had attempted to estabhsh a proprietary 
government. Dissatisfaction had arisen from numerous 
causes, which I need not pause to enumerate. They 
will be found embodied in " a petition of the inhabitants 
and some of the intended settlers of that part of North 
America, now denominated Transylvania," addressed 
" to the honorable the Convention of Virginia."* The 
Virginia settlers in general, did not recognize the vahdity 
of the company's jurisdiction, and declined making in- 
vestments in their land office. The emigrants from 
North Carolina, many of whom were brought by Col. 
Henderson to the country, were satisfied with the titles 
derived from him, and made their purchases accordingly. 
There were others, and a numerous class, who, with a 
proper foresight of results, preferred to take possession 
of such lands as suited them, and await the perfection 
of their claims, until the pending conflict of opinion 
should be determined and the rightful sovereignty de- 
clared. On the 6th June, 177G,t a meeting was held at 
Harrodsburgh to take the subject into consideration, 
and Col. Clark and Gabriel John Jones were selected to 
repair to the seat of government of Virginia, and to ex- 
press to the General Assembly, the wishes of the citi- 
zens that those gentlemen should be permitted to take 
their seats as representatives in that body, " from the 
western parts of Fincastle county on the Kentucky 
river." 

The delegates accepted the singular commission, with 
no expectation certainly, that the request of their con- 
stituents in that respect would be complied with. On 
their arrival, in Bottetourt, one of the western counties 

* 2 Hall's Sketches, App. tSee Appendix— note F. 



54 

in Virginia, they ascertained that the General Assembly 
had adjourned, and Jones returned to the settlements on 
the Holston. Clark remained — to promote other designs 
than those connected with his mission. That distin- 
guished man — Patrick Henry — was then the Governor 
of Virginia, and was absent from the seat of govern- 
ment, on a visit to Hanover. Clark availed himself of 
his proximity to the place of his residence, to obtain an 
interview. He disclosed the objects of his mission, and 
the defenceless condition of the frontier, and having 
disposed the Governor favorably to his views, he pro- 
cured from him letters of introduction to the Executive 
Council at Williamsburgh, and proceeded to that capi- 
tal. His first business was to apply to the council for a 
supply of gunpowder for the Kentucky stations. But 
what thought had Virginia of "the western parts of 
Fincastle county, on the Kentucky river ?" What cer- 
tainty was there, that the settlements on the frontier 
were not within the chartered limits of North Carolina? 
The cautious and timid council consented to lend the 
powder, provided Clark would be personally bound for 
its value, m the event that the Legislature of Virginia 
should not recognize the inhabitants of Kentucky as citi- 
zens of that State; and provided^ moreover <) that he ivould 
pay the cost of its transportation ! The ofler on those 
terms was without hesitation declined. The delegate 
from Kentucky then represented to them, that the Brit- 
ish were endeavoring to engage the Indians in the im- 
pending war; that the people of the frontier stations 
might be exterminated for the want of the means of de- 
fence, and if that event happened, that the arms of the 
savages might be turned against the Virginia settlements 
on the eastern side of the mountains. The council now 



55 

went a little further, and ordered the powder to be de- 
livered ; but still adhered to their original terms. Clark 
persisted in rejecting them; and indignant that such 
injustice should be done to his constituents, he formed 
the determination, before he left the council chamber, to 
re-visit Kentucky and exert himself for the formation of 
an independent State. He restored the order of the 
council for the delivery of the powder, accompanied with 
a written assurance that he was utterly unable to con- 
vey military stores to such distant points through an 
enemy's country: that the inhabitants of Kentucky 
must look elsewhere for assistance than to their native 
State ; and concluded by declaring that a country which 
was not worth defending, was not of sufficient value to 
be claimed. This last step was decisive of the whole 
movement. On the reception of the letter, Clark was 
sent for ; and an order of council was made for the con- 
veyance of the powder to Pittsburgh, " to be safely kept 
and delivered to Mr. George Rogers Clark or his order, 
for the use of the said inhabitants of Kentucki." Such 
were the relations between Virginia and Kentucky in 
1776, and such the light in which the latter was regard- 
ed by the government of the parent Commonwealth. 

At the ensuing session of the General Assembly, Clark 
and Jones presented the memorial of the inhabitants of 
Kentucky, requesting that their delegates might be per- 
mitted to take seats in that body. It prayed also that 
the settlements on the western frontier, might be con- 
sidered as included within the territorial limits of Vir- 
ginia, and that a company of riflemen should be sent to 
their relief. The petition setting forth their causes of 
complaint against the government of Transylvania, was 
offered at the same time. The general assembly took 
all these subjects into earnest consideration. They did 



56 

not, of course, recognize the delegates as legislators, 
but they were received and treated with great civility 
as citizens, and the grievances of their constituents were 
most respectfully heard. Col. Henderson was himself 
at Williamsburgh, maintaining the validity of his pur- 
chase, and consequently of the title of the company, to 
the land contained in the deed from the Cherokees. He 
was a man of considerable abilities, of persuasive elo- 
quence, of interesting manners, and wielded an influ- 
ence which was not without its weight in the councils of 
Virginia. But Clark was a competitor whose powers 
were not easily overcome. After a severe contest, the 
general assembly declared against the title of the Tran- 
sylvania compan}', and on the 7th December, 1776, 
passed a law to establish the county of Kentucky. 

The delegates prepared, after these events, to return 
to Harrodsburgh. But hearing that the powder which 
the council had furnished was still at Pittsburgh, they 
resolved to take that place in their route, and superin- 
tend in person the transmission of an article so neces- 
sary to the safety of the people of the stations. On 
their arrival at Pittsburgh, they discovered that a body 
of Indians had collected there, ostensibly for the pur- 
pose of negociation, but employed, as they believed, in 
acquiring information of the movements of the emi- 
grants, to enable them to intercept the passage of boats 
down the Ohio river, which was then, as it is now, the 
principal thoroughfare of trade and transportation from 
the east to the west It became important, therefore, 
that Clark and his colleague should counteract by the 
celerity of their movements, these mischievous designs 
of the Indians. They procured and manned a boat — 
descended the river with all possible expedition — landed 
at Limestone creek, the present site of the city of Mayn- 



57 

ville — carefully concealed the powder on its banks — and 
set out immediately to Harrodsburgh for an escort to 
convey it to the stations. Thus far they had met with 
no interruption; but they were now about to penetrate 
the haunted wilds of Kentucky, and who could answer 
for their safety? Halting on their journey at a cabin, 
that sheltered a settler whose name was Hinkston, they 
ascertained from a party of surveyors, that Col. John 
Todd was in the vicinity with a small company under 
his command. On the reception of this intelligence 
Clark waited a short time, for his arrival, but becoming 
hopeless of meeting him, he resumed his journey with 
two of his men, leaving the remainder of his little party 
with his colleague. Soon after his departure Col. Todd 
arrived at Hinkston's, and confident of the sufficiency 
of his force, although he had but ten men along with 
him, he resolved upon an attempt to remove the powder 
from Limestone. The historian has not defined the po- 
sition of Hinkston's cabin; it was probably not remote 
from the stream which now bears his name in the county 
of Bourbon. Todd marched on until he approached the 
Blue Licks, that fatal spot so notorious in our annals, 
and was attacked by a party of Indians who were in 
pursuit of Clark. A skirmish ensued w^hich resulted in 
the defeat of Col. Todd, and the loss of several of his 
men. Jones, who had attached himself to the com- 
pany, was among the number of the slain. Clark pushed 
on to Harrodsburgh, from whence he sent a detachment 
to Limestone for the powder, w hich was conveyed safely 
to the station. 

This rapid narrative of the first important service 
rendered by General Clark to the country of his adop- 
tion, exhibits the commencement of a career, as heroic 
as it was successful in the wide field of western adven- 
8 



58 

ture — a career, which although displayed under the au- 
spices of a single State, forms one of the most brilliant 
episodes in the story of our national achievements. 

Commencing with the date of his return from Vir- 
ginia toward the close of the year 1776, he embodied in 
a journal some hasty memoranda of the principal occur- 
rences of the year 1777, and the venerable relic has 
been kindly placed into my hands.* The information 
communicated by it justifies me in repeating, that the 
year 1777 was one of severe trial to the emigrants* 
Scarcely a day elapsed, without bringing with it an at- 
tack on some one of the stations, or a skirmish with the 
savages, or the surprise of a hunting party — seldom 
unaccompanied with loss of lives. Boonesborough, Har- 
rodsburgh, and Logan's fort — the three prominent set- 
tlements — were successively besieged with great obsti- 
nacy. During a period of more than six weeks, the In- 
dians seem never for a moment to have abandoned the 
country. They hovered around the stations — haunted 
the traces that led to them — skulked through the forests 
— concealed themselves in canebrakes — always ready to 
avail themselves of whatever advantages might occur. 
Yet the whole effective military force of thti settlers 
consisted at this time of about one hundred men. — 
Boonesborough contained twenty two — Harrodsburgh 
sixty five — Logan's fort fifteen. Wonderful as it may 
appear, under all these discouragements, the lands ad- 
joining the forts were cleared and cultivated — the set- 
tlements continued to be the resort of adventurers — the 
population of the country increased — its civil institutions 
were established — and the embryo Commonwealth was 
gradually acquiring the strength and proportions of an 
independent body politic. 

* S<e Appendix — noto G. 



59 

Early in the spring of 1777, John Todd, John Floyd, 
Benjamin Logan, John Bowman and Richard Callaway 
were appointed justices, and Levi Todd, clerk, of the 
county court, which held its first session at Harrods- 
burgh. 

On the fifth of March the militia were embodied into a 
regiment, the requisite officers commissioned, and Col. 
Bowman was placed in the command. 

The county being entitled by law to a representation 
in the General Assemby of Virginia, on the nineteenth 
of April John Todd and Richard Callaway were elected 
the first burgesses; and thus the municipal organization 
of Kentucky was effected in the midst of dangers — 
threatening destruction to the whole population. 

The year 1778 opened with other aspects. The In- 
dians disappeared from the stations, and an interval of 
tranquility and repose occurred. The guardian genius 
of Kentucky had watched over the birth and " stood by 
the cradle," of her municipal institutions. The same 
master spirit was now engaged to defend them. While 
the inhabitants of the stations were planting their corn- 
fields with their riffes in their hands, and delending their 
position against the incursions of the savages, instigated 
by agents of the British government, Virginia was min- 
gling in the furious strife of the revolution. Little leisure 
was allowed to her to discuss the claims of her remote 
backwoodsmen, either upon her generosity or her justice. 
She had pledged herself, with an indomitable purpose, to 
the support of the one great cause of colonial liberty and 
independence, and all her energies were put in requisition 
for the redemption of the pledge. If for a moment only, 
she had turned aside from the pursuit of that object, to 
sound the depths of her financial policy, to investigate 
all the measures conducive to success, she would have 



60 

perceived, at a glance, in the enlargement of her western 
settlements abundant reasons for affording them protec- 
tion — reasons no less imposing than the replenishment 
of her treasury, and the diversion of the Indian tribes 
from a participation in the general conflict. What Vir- 
ginia had not time to consider, the far-reaching mind of 
Clark considered for her. He had, as an adventurer, 
visited Kentucky in 1775. As her delegate, he had 
claimed her recognition by the authorities of the parent 
State in 1776 — through his agency her institutions were 
established. He had returned to the frontier to partici- 
pate in the struggles of the feeble stations for existence. 
The British government was then in possession of the 
military posts of Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and 
diffused an influence among the north-western Indian 
tribes which, if properly directed, might have operated 
most prejudicially to the American cause. With cha- 
racteristic forecast, Clark perceived that to these sour- 
ces of influence, were mainly attributable the habitually 
inflamed passions and unremitted depredations of those 
savages, and especially the determined and systematic 
onsets which, throughout the year 1777, were made on 
the frontier stations. The reduction of these posts, be- 
came, therefore, in his estimation, a cardinal object of 
policy. He believed that upon their destruction the fate 
of the settlements depended. He had moreover be- 
come apprized, that a plan had been conceived by the 
Governor of Vincennes, to be carried into execution on 
the return of spring, to combine a large British and In- 
dian force for offensive operations against Kentucky, the 
consequences of which, if successful, years of persever- 
ing effort might not retrieve. With these convictions 
deeply impressed upon his mind, he determined to re- 
commend to the Governor and council of Virginia, an 



CI 

immediate expedition into Illinois. Not sufficiently as- 
sured of a favorable reception of his views, in his ab- 
sence from the seat of government, he left Kentucky on 
the first of October, 1777, and repaired in person to 
Williamsburgh, to enforce by argument, and if need be 
by entreaty, the policy of his scheme. The same illustri- 
ous patriot, with whom Clark had obtained an interview 
in Hanover, and who had favored his application for 
powder in 1776, still presided over the councils of Vir- 
ginia. Nothing could have been more fortunate for the 
success of his designs. There was a congeniality in the 
minds of those great men which presaged the best re- 
sults, and Clark addressed himself a second time to 
Governor Henry. The Governor entered at once into 
the consideration qf the subject. He not only brought 
it before his council, but he consulted Jefferson and Ma- 
son and Wythe — those sage counsellors who had already 
given earnest of that wisdom and patriotism which ex- 
alted them to the highest rank among^ their country's 
benefactors — and after the most minute survey of the 
whole ground of the application, a warm and decisive 
approval was given, to the proposition for^.the Illinois 
campaign." On the second of January, 1778, Clark 
received instructions from the Governor and council, 
to raise a force adequate at once for the'defence of 
Kentucky, and the reduction of the British post at Kas- 
kaskia. The sum of twelve hundred pounds was placed 
at his disposal — recruiting officers were dispatched in 
various directions for men — and orders were given to 
the agent of Virginia, at Pittsburgh, to furnish the ne- 
cessary^boats and supplies. The details_of the expedi- 
tion — its secret preparations — the opposition it encoun- 
tered from many of the settlers — its progress — its^em- 
barrassments — and its success — belong to history. The 



62 

result was as glorious as the conception was opportune 
and sagacious. By a masterly movement, Kaskaskia 
was taken on the fourth of July, without bloodshed — 
almost without resistance — the British Governor was 
made a prisoner while in his own chamber, and the stan- 
dard of Virginia waved in triumph over the ancient cap- 
ital of Illinois. 

Events, however, of a less auspicious character, were 
transpiring, in the mean time, in another direction : and 
the settlements, once more fearfully endangered, were to 
owe their safety to the misfortunes of Daniel Boone. On 
the first of January, 1778, Boone and a company of 
thirty men had gone to the Blue Lick, "to make salt for 
the different garrisons in the country," and on the seventh 
of February, when on a hunting excursion, he encoun- 
tered a party of Indians, who, together with some 
Frenchmen, were on their way to Boonesborough. Boone 
was taken ; and on the next day he was conducted to the 
lick where his companions were, and all were made pri- 
soners — twenty eight in number including himself — three 
having been previously sent to the fort with the salt that 
had been made. Satisfied with their acquisition, the 
Indians retreated across the Ohio to the old town of 
Chillicothe on the little Miami river. From thence Boone 
was taken to Detroit. On the twenty fifth of April he 
was brought back to Chillicothe — adopted into an Indian 
family — treated with great clemency and affection — and 
having gained the friendship of the chief of the Shawa- 
nese, he was released in a great measure from the re- 
straints and severities of Indian captivity. 

The Indians were now preparing for a violent attack 
upon the settlements in Kentucky. Early in June "four 
hundred and fifty of the choicest warriors," says Boone, 
" were ready to march against Boonesborough, painted 



63 

and armed in a fearful manner." Alarmed at these pre- 
parations he determined to make his escape, and "on the 
sixteenth of June, before sunrise, he went off secretly 
and reached Ooonesborough on the twentieth — a journey 
of one hundred and sixty miles." He found the fortress 
" in a bad state" — and lost no time in making it defen- 
sible. He " repaired the flanks, gates and posterns, 
formed double bastions," and completed the whole in 
ten days. 

On the eighth of August, the " Indian army of four 
hundred and forty four warriors, commanded by Capt. 
Duquesne and eleven other Frenchmen, and their own 
chiefs," demanded the surrender of the garrison. Two 
days were allowed, at Boone's request, to consider the 
proposition. ''On the ninth, in the evening," he says, 
"I informed the commander, that we were determined 
to defend the fort, while a man was living :" and most 
courageously was that determination maintained. 

The siege continued for the space of nine da)"s — and 
an almost incessant firing was kept up night and day. 
On the twentieth of August the enemy disappeared, hav- 
ing lost thirty seven men killed, and a great number 
wounded. The defence of the fort does infinite credit 
to the spirit and gallantry of the Kentuckians, and 
saved the frontier from depopulation. 

The easy and complete conquest of Kaskaskia served 
to stinmlate Col. Clark to fresh enterprizes. The vil- 
lage of Cahokia, about sixty miles distant, was next 
taken, and the inhabitants acknowledged their allegi- 
ance to the government of Virginia. He now directed 
his views to the important post of Vincennes ; but dis- 
pairing of taking possession of it by force of arms with 
so small an army, he availed himself of the influence 
which he had acquired over M. Gibault, a Roman Ca- 



64 

tholic Priest, who had remained stedfast in his attach- 
ment to the interests of the colonies, to engage him in a 
project, remarkable alike for its singularity and its suc- 
cess. It was to substitute at the post the authority of 
Virginia for that of Great Britian — not by violence — but 
by a peaceful and voluntary renunciation, of the allegi- 
ance of the inhabitants to the British sovereign. In an 
interview between Clark and the reverend gentleman, 
the former affected to entertain the purpose of ordering 
an expedition against Vincennes from the falls of Ohio, 
which he represented to be the head quarters of the 
main Virginia army, of which the Illinois regiment was 
only a detachment; and he requested the latter to com- 
municate to him whatever information he possessed that 
would facilitate his movements. M. Gibault readily 
consented to comply with the request. He informed 
Col. Clark that the Governor of Vincennes was absent 
on a visit to Detroit — that the necessity of the proposed 
expedition from Kentucky might probably be superseded 
by other designs — that with the approbation of Colonel 
Clark, he would assume the business on himself, and that 
he had no doubt of being able to bring that place over to 
the American interest without bloodshed, and without 
the necessity of marching an army against it. It may 
be supposed, that Col. Clark did not yield either a tardy 
or reluctant assent, to a proposition so suitable to the ac- 
complishment of his views. He acceded to them un- 
hesitatingly, and associating in the undertaking at M. 
Gibault's request, a layman of the same religious per- 
suasion, on the fourteenth of July he dispatched them 
to Vincennes. In a few days after their arrival the in- 
habitants were assembled — a consultation took place 
between the minister and his fiock — a treaty was con- 
cluded — the authority of the British government dis- 



65 

claimed — and the oath of allegiance administered in the 
name of the Commonwealth of Virginia. After this 
fortunate termination of their mission, the negotiators 
returned toKaskaskia,and were received with acclama- 
tions by the whole community. Clark was equally grat- 
ified and surprised. The peaceful accomplishment of an 
object so important not only to the frontier settlements 
of Virginia, but to himself — could not have been other- 
wise than in the highest degree agreeable to him ; and 
having renewed his engagement with the troops for an- 
other term of service, he posted a garrison at Kaskas- 
kia under tb.e command of Capt. Williams — another at 
Cahokia under Capt. Bowman, by whose gallantry it 
was taken, and Capt. Leonard Helm was appointed to 
the command of Vincennes, with the authority of "agent 
for Indian affairs in the department of the Wabash.^^ 

Such were the dispositions made by the conqueror of 
Illinois, of the strongholds of the immense region which 
his policy and arms had acquired. What a sudden 
change his prospects had undergone in the lapse of a 
few months! On the first of January he was an humble 
suitor before the executive authorities of Virginia, claim- 
ing justice for the unprotected settlements of Kentucky, 
and disclosing plans for the suppression of the British 
influence over the savages. In the following August he 
was in possession of a territory now embraced by two 
powerful States — he had established the government of 
Virginia over two of those military posts, which it was 
his great object to subdue, and he had stationed a garri- 
son in each. But his authority over Vincennes was 
destined to expire in a few months after it was acquired. 
It was impossible for him situated as he was, so to dis- 
pose of his forces, few in number and occupying posi- 
tions considerably remote from each other, as to assign 
9 



66 

to the post at Vincennes, a garrison adequate to its pro- 
tection, and Capt. Helm, a brave and admirable officer, 
found himself a mere nominal commander — at the mercy 
of the first enemy that might approach him. 

On the twenty ninth of January, 1779, Col. Clark 
received intelligence, that Gov. Hamilton, at the head 
of four hundred men from Detroit had, in the previous 
month of December, re-taken Vinccnnes; and that his 
purpose was to have continued his march to Kaskaskia, 
but that owing to the severity of the season, that move- 
ment had been postponed until the spring. 

Clark at once determined on the course which it be- 
came him to pursue. He knew, he said, if he did not 
take Hamilton, Hamilton would take him, and he an- 
nounced his purpose of marching forthwith to Vincennes. 
He first despatched Capt. Rogers, another meritorious 
officer, in whom he had great confidence, on board of a 
large boat, which he supplied with two four pounders 
four swivels, and forty six men, with directions to force 
his way up the Wabash, and await below the mouth of 
White river, further orders from him, and on the seventh 
of February, 1779, he set out himself with one hundred 
and seventy men for the post. After an arduous 
march — conducted under the most difficult and embar- 
rassing circumstances — in the midst of winter — over 
swamps covered with water, oftentimes so deep as to 
reach the armpits — across creeks and rivers swollen by 
floods — through an unbroken wilderness devoid of the 
means of subsistence — furnishing not even nature's sup- 
ply of wild game — the resolute little band, weakened 
almost to prostration by hunger, cold and fatigue, but 
buoyed up by the example of their commander, arrived 
on the twentieth of February in sight of the place of 
their destination, without any knowledge on the part of 



67 

Gov. Hamilton of the movements of the expedition. 
That most unwelcome intelligence was for the first time 
communicated by Clark himself, in a letter addressed to 
the inhabitants of the village, declaring his purpose of 
taking possession of the fort that night, and warning all 
those who adhered to the cause of hisBrittanic majesty, 
to repair to the fort and fight like men, under pain of 
being vigorously dealt with, if, after so frank a notifica- 
tion, they were found giving assistance to the enemy. 
So sudden and so positive an annunciation was calcu- 
lated to surprise, if it did not alarm, the Governor. It 
conveyed an assurance of confidence in his own strength, 
and of equal confidence in the weakness of his adversa- 
ry — a circumstance which, coupled with the fact, that 
the name of the leader of the Virginia forces — fresh 
from the field of his successes — was of itself a source of 
intimidation, especially to the inhabitants of Vincennes, 
contributed in no slight degree to the successful termi- 
nation of the enterprise. Col. Clark took a position on 
the heights adjacent to the town, in full view of the gar- 
rison, and after making some demonstrations of strength 
which he did not possess, exhibited by successive 
marches and countermarches around the acclivities of 
the hill on which he had stationed his troops, he moved 
forward to take possession of the place. I pass over 
the particulars of the attack. It was conducted with 
equal skill and boldness. The American commander at 
length demanded a surrender of the fort. The demand 
was rejected by the Governor in the most decisive man- 
ner. But his firmness suddenly gave way. He ascer- 
tained that his cannon — which was his main reliance for 
defence — had become useless — the citizens of Vincennes 
were well disposed toward the assailing army — he was 
alarmed for the consequences, should the fort fall into 



68 

the hands of the Americans without condition — and he 
applied to Col. Clark for a truce of three days. While 
the latter deemed it inexpedient to allow the request, he 
proposed a personal conference with Governor Hamilton. 
An interview accordingly took place between the com- 
manders at the village church. Clark repeated his de- 
mand of a surrender of the garrison at discretion. Ham- 
ilton offered to capitulate, upon condition that the Bri- 
tish army should be regarded as prisoners of war, enti- 
tled as such to the protection of their lives and property. 
The feelings of the parties rose w^ith the interchange of 
their respective propositions. An interruption ensued, 
and the conference closed with a declaration by Colonel 
Clark, that in fifteen minutes he would storm the fort. 
It was with evident reluctance that the Governor was 
about to part from his adversary on such unpleasant 
terms. The conversation at his instance was renewed — 
another scene of excitement occurred — and Clark at 
last consented to reconsider the proposed terms of capit- 
ulation. They were submitted by him to his officers 
for consideration ; and after discussion, it was resolved 
that the demand of Col. Clark for an unconditional sur- 
render would not be insisted on ; the proposition of the 
British Governor was deemed reasonable, and he was 
' immediately informed that it would be acceded to. A 
"capitulation accordingly took place. On the twenty 
fourth of February, 1779, the garrison of Fort Sack- 
'^Ville were surrendered as prisoners of war, and on the 
"next day the fort was occupied by the American army, 
'thirteen rounds of cannon — representing the thirteen 
united colonies — proclaimed the joy of the victors, and 
the star spangled flag of Virginia was once more dis- 
played over Vincennes. 

The Virginia commander now fixed his eye upon De- 



69 

troit. But I cannot pursue him in his extraordinary ca • 
reer. It is for the biographer, not for me, to recount the 
scenes of his eventful Hfe, and present it in full lustre to 
the admiration of posterity. If he was one of the 
pioneers of the wilderness, he was likewise the main 
pillar of its defence in the tender years of our institu- 
tions, when a fearful combination of hostile circumstan- 
ces threatened to overthrow them, and with them to de- 
stroy the settlements in Kentucky. The series of victo- 
rious movements which has been already noticed, execu- 
ted with so much rapidity and tact, and under so many 
embarrassments and difficulties, would bear comparison 
with those of the most distinguished generals of the age. 
The capture of Vincennes and the discomfiture of the 
designs of Governor Hamilton, first to re-take Kaskas- 
kia, next to annihilate the Kentucky stations, and lastly 
to invade and lay waste the western counties of Virginia, 
redounded to the security of the whole frontier, and it 
may be said without extravagance, materially to the 
success of the struggle for independence. His renown is 
associated v/ith the glory of the State, of which he was 
an ornament and ought to have been the pride. He laid 
the foundations of a Commonwealth, and by his genius 
and valor added a territory large enough for an empire 
to the dominions of his native State. He died in poverty 
and neglect — of a broken heart — in the sixty sixth year 
of his age.* 

I return to the occurrences that were transpiring in 
Kentucky. On the first of April, 1779, a block house 
was erected in Lexington, and a settlement commenced 
by Robert Patterson. "He was joined," says a histo- 
rianjt "by the McConnels, the Lindsays, and James Mas- 

• See Appendix — note H. fButler, 101. 



70 

terson ;" and in the autumn of the same year,* Major 
John Morrison removed his family from Harrodsburgh. 
Col. Patterson was "an early and meritorious adven- 
turer, much engaged in the defence of the country." He 
was in the battle of the Blue Lick, and became a mem- 
ber of the convention that met at Danville in 1785, to 
deliberate upon the proposed separation from Virginia. 

In the same year Bryant's Station was settled on the 
Elkhorn. The original proprietors abandoned it; but it 
continued to be occupied by other more resolute men — 
among whom was Col. Robert Johnson, one of the dis- 
tinguished defenders of the same station in 1782. 

In October, 1779, the Legislature of Virginia passed 
a law, "establishing the town of Boonesborough in the 
county of Kentucky." Fifty acres of land adjoining 
the lots which had previously been laid off, were vested 
in Richard Callaway, Charles Minn Thruston, Levin 
Powell, Edmund Taylor, James Estre (Estill,) Edward 
Bradley, John Kennedy, David Gist, Pemberton Rol- 
lings and Daniel Boone, as trustees, and they were re- 
quired to cause a plan of the town together with the 
plan of the township as already laid off, to be returned 
to the court of the county to be recorded. The trus- 
tees or any six of them were empowered to convey the 
lots to the persons first making application, "subject to 
the condition of building on each of them a dwelling 
house, sixteen feet square at least, with a brick, stone 
or dirt chimney, to be finished for habitation, within 
three years from the date of the respective deeds," and 
for a failure to build within the stipulated period, the 
trustees were authorized to sell the lots and apply the 
money to the repairing of the streets or any other pur- 

^Msmoirs of Rice by Dr. Bishop, 151. 



71 

pose for the benefit of the town. The law also required 
that six hundred and forty acres should be surveyed, 
adjoining the land allotted for building, the title to which 
was vested for a common in the trustees, in trust for 
the benefit of the inhabitants of the town. 

The trustees declined to act, and by an amendatory 
law * Thomas Kennedy, Aaron Lewis, Robert Rhodes, 
Green Clay, Archibald Woods, Benjamin Bedford, John 
Sappington, WilUam Irvine, David Crews, and Higger- 
son Grubbs were appointed in their places. Even with 
the assistance of these bountiful provisions, Boonesbo- 
rough never rose to any importance among the villages 
of Kentucky. It was the first, and perhaps on that ac- 
count, in the earlier period of her history the doomed 
fortress, against which the savages seem to have directed 
their most determined efforts, and having withstood 
them, through a series of years of difficulty and dan- 
ger, it lost the precedence which circumstances had given 
to it, and sunk with the disappearance of the enemy 
whose incursions it had so successfully resisted. Time 
has passed roughly over the consecrated spot of the first 
settlement of Kentucky. The "lots and streets" of 
Boonesborough have ceased to be known by their original 
lines and landmarks. The work of the pioneers has 
perished. Scarce a vestige remains of their rudely built 
cabins and their feeble palisades. The elm under whose 
shade they worshipped and legislated and took counsel 
of each other for safety and defence, no longer survives 
to spread its ample canopy over our heads. But the 
soil on which they stood is under our feet. The spring 
which slaked their burning thirst, at every pause in 
their conflicts with the remorseless foe, is at our side. 

• In 1787—3 Litt. L. 539, 



72 

The river from whose cliff the Indian levelled his rifle at 
the invaders of his hunting ground, still rolls its "ar- 
rowy" current at our back. These are memorials that 
cannot fail. How replete with interest are the remini- 
scences they awaken ! They remind us of Boone and 
his adventurous companions, plying the forest with their 
axes, and throwing their quick and anxious glances 
around them, as if the reverberation of every stroke 
might be the tocsin of their doom — of Henderson and 
Hart and Williams, the self styled proprietors of the 
"new born country," poising themselves on their title to 
the soil, hurling defiance at a royal Governor, claiming 
admission into the confederacy of united colonies, and 
"placing the corner stone of a" political "edifice" that 
would only be "great and glorious in proportion to the 
excellence of its foundations" — of Slaughter and Todd 
and Floyd and Harrod and Callaway, the lawgivers 
and defenders of the frontier — of Lythe, the peaceful 
"Minister of the church of England," whose sacred vo- 
cation could not exempt him from the death of the tom- 
ahawk ; and while we are thus reminded of the men, by 
whose valor aud perseverance this fair land was won, 
and by whose agency its institutions were planted, who 
does not feci himself borne down by the weight of the 
obligations of respect and gratitude, which their services 
have imposed? Honor to the memory — peace to the 
ashes of the first settlers of Kentucky ! 

The year 1779 was remarkable for the large additions 
that were made to the population of the settlements. 
Hundreds of families from the interior of the parent 
Commonwealth, and from the neighboring colonies sought 
homes and estates in the western forests. Virginia had 
at length awakened to the incalculable value of her un- 
appropriated domain, and for the fourfold purpose of 



73 

encouraging the migration of foreigners, promoting pop- 
ulation, increasing the annual revenue, and creating a 
fund for discharging her public debt,* she establish- 
ed her land office, and offered her lands " on the wes- 
tern waters," to all who in consideration of money or 
of faithful military service, might think proper to avail 
themselves of the terms of the law. I should wander 
from my subject, if I were to stop to discuss the provis- 
ions of that memorable system, or to animadvert on the 
unnumbered woes to which it gave birth. No citizen of 
Kentucky can be a stranger to its fruits.t A court of 
commissioners was created, with plenary powers, to 
adjudicate without appeal upon the incipient land titles 
of the country, and William Fleming, Edmund Lyne, 
James Barbour and Stephen Trigg, citizens of Virginia, 
but not of the county of Kentucky, were appointed the 
commissioners. The court was itinerant, and held its 
sessions for the convenience of the settlers, at the sever- 
al stations. It was opened at St. Asaph, on the 13th of 
October, 1779, and the first claim presented for adjudi- 
cation was that of Isaac Shelby, for " a settlement and 
pre-emption for raising a crop of corn in the country in 
1776." The mention of the name of this distinguished 
citizen must arrest for a few moments the narrative of 
events. 

Isaac Shelby was a native of Maryland, and was born 
on the 11th of December, 1750. Commencing life at a 
period when the facilities of education were not gener- 
erally diffused, reading; writing, arithmetic and survey- 
ing formed the sum of his acquirements. The exerci- 
ses of the chase and the use of fire arms were ordinary 
pre-requisites of a successful career, and to them he was 

•Preamble of the Law of 1779, 1 Lilt. L. 406. tSee Appendix note I, 

10 



74 

accustomed from early boyhood. At the age of twenty 
one, he removed to one of the western counties in Vir- 
ginia, and in the campaign of 1774, was a lieutenant of 
the company which his father commanded in the bloody 
battle of Point Pleasant. He came to Kentucky in 
1775, and accepted from the Transylvania company the 
appointment of deputy surveyor, A pioneer, a states- 
man, and a soldier of the revolution, we find him in 1776 
" raising a crop of corn" in Kentucky — in 1779 a mem- 
ber of the Virginia legislature, and on the 7th of Octo- 
ber, 1780, at King's Mountain, driving before him at 
the head of his regiment, the enemies of his country. 
But his services were not limited to this enumeration of 
them. Throughout the war of the revolution he was 
usefully employed in the several capacities of captain of a 
minute company — commissary of supplies, and colonel of 
a regiment. By the extension of the line of boundary 
between North Carolina and Virginia, his residence was 
thrown into the limits of the former State, and he was 
elected in 1782 a member of her General Assembly. In 
the ensuing spring he removed permanently to Ken- 
tucky, and from that period became identified with the 
perils of her infancy, with the hopes of her riper years — 
with her honor, her welfare and her fame. He was 
married in 1783 in the fort at Boonesborough, to a 
daughter of Captain Nathaniel Hart, one of the propri- 
etors of Transylvania. He was a member of the con- 
ventions of 1787 and 1788 that met at Danville to con- 
sider and adjust the terms of separation from Virginia, 
After the adoption of the constitution of 1792 he became 
the first Governor of Kentucky, and was elected a sec- 
ond time in 1812, shortly after the declaration of war 
by the United States against Great Britian. A meas- 
ure so important to the dignity and honor of the repub- 



75 

lie could not but meet his decided concurrence, and he 
accorded to the authorities of the federal government the 
most energetic co-operation. In all his patriotic deter- 
minations, in that respect, he was supported by the 
whole people of Kentucky. The proximity of the in- 
habitants of the northwestern frontier of the United 
States, to the British American dominions, brought them 
in direct contact with the savage allies of the British 
government, and the surrender of Detroit threw the 
door wide open to their depredations and cruelties. Ken- 
tucky had 110 frontier. Hundreds of miles separated 
her from the scat of hostilities. She was surrounded 
by a cordon of States, protecting her soil from invasion 
and her people from massacre. But she had a heart to 
sympathize for the sufferings of remote and defenceless 
backwoodsmen exposed to all the horrors of Indian war- 
fare. She had experienced those horrors herself, until 
the tomahawk and the scalping knife had become fa- 
miliar weapons in the hands of her own soldiery in their 
conflicts with the savages. Alive also to the honor 
of the whole country, she felt that its rights had been 
outraged, beyond endurance, by the government of 
Great Britian, and that its character demanded that they 
should be maintained. No sooner therefore was the mo- 
mentous declaration announced, that the United States 
were at war with the offending nation, than the shout to 
support it rang throughout the length and breadth of 
the Commonwealth. Ardent and impulsive to a fault, 
her population almost in a body sprang to their feet at 
the first summons of their chief magistrate to the field.* 
The old, the middle aged and the young, men of every 
class and party, without distinction, vied with each oth- 

*See Appendix— note J. 



' 



76 

er for precedence — not in rank — but in service — and 
seven thousand of her brave and hardy sons rushed to 
the standard of their country. The tragedy of the Rai- 
sin tells the sad story of the fate of a gallant detachment 
of the northwestern army, which was overpowered by 
superior numbers and sacrificed. If the disasters of 
that campaign covered the State with mourning, they 
did not damp the spirit or paralize the energies of her 
people. Another call was made upon their patriotism — 
another army flew to the frontier to avenge the slaugh- 
ter of their brethren — another bloody catastrophe sig- 
nahzed the attempt. The heart of the venerable Shel- 
by was touched — not subdued — by these misfortunes of 
his country. The fire of the revolution broke out afresh 
in his aged bosom, and he resolved to take the field in 
person. By a provision in the constitution of Kentucky, 
the chief magistrate, although commander-in-chief of 
the armies of the Commonwealth, is forbidden to as- 
sume that position in actual service, unless by the ex- 
press permission of the representatives of the people : 
and he applied to the legislature for leave to abandon^ 
for a season, the post of civil duty, and place himself, at 
the age of sixty three, at the head of Kentucky's quota 
of a new force to be raised for the defence of the north- 
western frontier. The leave was granted — a third ap- 
peal was made to the gallantry of his fellow citizens — 
their broken spirits rallied at the sound of the veteran's 
voice — and the appeal was answered by the rushing of 
other thousands to his standard. I forbear to pursue 
the history of that celebrated campaign. If any thing 
could enhance the eclat of an expedition that termina- 
ted so gloriously for the American arms — in the death of 
Tecumseh, the terror and scourge of the frontier — in the 
defeat of more than one thousand of his warriors — in the 



77 

capture of the British army, and the conquest of a Brit- 
ish province, it is the fact, that " the Governor of an 
independent State," covered with the laurels of many a 
well fought field in ''the times that tried men's souls," 
and "greatly superior in years," to the commander-in- 
chief of the American forces, " placed himself never- 
theless under his command, and was not more remarka- 
ble for zeal and activity, than for the promptitude and 
cheerfulness with which he obeyed his orders."* Shelby 
returned with his army to Kentucky, and having served 
out his official term with fidelity to his constituents and 
honor to himself, he determined to devote the remainder 
of his life to the cultivation of the soil. He was not 
permitted, however, to enjoy the repose which was so 
suitable to his age and inclinations. Although he de- 
clined the oiler made to him by President Monroe of a 
Seat in his cabinet, he accepted in 1!^1S, from the same 
high source, a commission to negotiate, in conjunction 
with General Jackson, a treaty with the Chickesaw In- 
dians for the purchase of a large tract of country lying 
within the limits of Tennessee and Kentucky, the In- 
dian title to which had not until that time been extin- 
guished. That service performed, he retired to his farm 
in Lincoln, where he remained, without interruption from 
public engagements, until his death, which took place 
on the 18th day of July, 1826 — in the seventy sixth 
year of his age. 

*"ln cominmucating to the president ihiough you, sir, my opinion of the conduct 
of the officers who served under my command, I am at a loss iiow to mention that of 
Governor Slielby, being convinced that no eulogium of mine can reacii his merit. — 
The Governor of an independent State, greatly my superior in ye^ts, in experience and 
in military character, he placed himself under my command, and was not more re- 
markable for his seal and activity, than for the prompitude and cheerfblness with. 
which he obeyed my orders." — Extract from a letter of Gen. Harrison to the Store- 
relary of War, dated, Detroit, dth October, 1813. 



78 

*' Great men," said Mr. Burke, " are the guide posts 
and land-marks in the State." The hfe of Isaac Shelby 
is a signal example of unblemished personal integrity 
and enlarged public usefulness, which may be safely im- 
itated by all those who aspire to become benefactors of 
their country. Starting into active life without the aid 
of fortune or education, he pursued the gradations of 
military rank from the lieutenancy of a militia company 
to the command of a regiment — he rose from the humble 
station of a surveyor among the pioneers to the gover- 
norship of a great Commonwealth — and was distinguished 
in all the posts to which he was called. His mind, like 
his body, was strong and vigorous : boldness, energy, 
decision, were its leading characteristics. Capable of 
thinking for himself, he investigated every important 
subject that came within the range of his private or pub- 
lic duties, with candor and deliberation ; and having 
formed his opinions, he followed them with unshaken 
firmness. He spoke and wrote as he thought — with 
great force and vigor — always expressing his opinions 
with manly frankness, and a lofty disdain of personal 
consequences. His manners — derived from the school in 
which he was brought up — were plain and simple, and 
commanded, without any affectation of dignity, the uni- 
versal deference of his associates. He was sincere but 
not profuse in his professions of attachment — faithful 
and steadfast to his friends when those attachments were 
once formed. Elevating himself in the discharge of his 
official duties above the influence of private considera- 
tions, he sought and rewarded merit for his country's 
sake. If such was his character as a public man, he 
maintained all the relations of life with equal credit and 
success. His death produced a sensation, which told 
with great emphasis of the loss of a public benefactor. 



79 

To what extent the policy of Virginia in establishing 
her land office and disposing in the manner she did of 
her waste and unappropriated lands on the western wa- 
ters, effectuated all the objects that the law contempla- 
ted, may be a subject of interesting enquiry — but it 
does not necessarily appertain to this occasion. Its in- 
fluence " in promoting the population " of the settle- 
ments, which was one of the avowed purposes of the 
law, has been already noticed. " Three hundred large 
family boats," it ,may be added* " arrived in the spring 
of 1780 at the falls," and there were as many as " six 
stations on Beargrass creek" alone, containing a " pop- 
ulation of six hundred men." The court of commis- 
sioners — after having held alternate sessions at St. 
Asaph, Harrodsburgh, Boonesborough, the falls of Ohio, 
and Bryant's station, announced on the 26th April, 
1780, that its powers had expired and adjourned with- 
out day. Of the various kinds of claims authorized by 
law, about three thousand were granted during the sev- 
en months that the court was in session at the several 
stations.! 

After an effort, so successful, " to promote the popu- 
lation" of the new county, the statesmen of Virginia, 
with enlightened munificence, next resolved upon the 
adoption of measures " for the diffusion of knowledge 
among her remote citizens." In the month of May 
1780, twelve years before Kentucky became an indepen- 
dent State, a law was passed by the General Assembly 
" to vest certain escheated lands, in the county of Ken- 
tucky, in trustees for a public school." That law is 

• Butler, 99. 

1 1 Marshall, 101. Mr. Marshall furnishes specimens of the forms of the certifi- 
cates of title grantert by the court — which to those who arc not familiar with the char- 
acter of our land titles may not be without interest. Sec Appendix note K. 



'^ 



80 

worthy of peculiar regard, not only because it was en- 
acted at a most interesting crisis in the affairs of our 
country, but because it distinguishes the legislation of 
our ancestors, in a manner to confer enduring honor up- 
on their memory. The preamble recited, that " where- 
as it is represented to this General Assembly that there 
are certain lands within the county of Kentucky, for- 
merly belonging to British subjects, not yet sold under 
the law of escheats and forfeitures, which might at a 
future day be a valuable fund for the maintenance and 
education of youth, and it being the interest of 
THIS Commonwealth always to pro3iote and en- 
courage EVERY design, WHICH MAY TEND TO THE IM- 
PROVEMENT OF THE MIND, AND THE DIFFUSION OF USE- 
FUL KNOWLEDGE, EVEN AMONG ITS REMOTE CITIZENS, 

whose situation in a barbarous neighborhood and a savage in- 
tercourse^ might otherwise render unfriendly to science;'''' and 
it was therefore enacted, " that eight thousand acres of 
land, within the said county of Kentucky, late the proper- 
ty" of those British subjects,* should be vested in trustees, 
" as a free donation from this Commonwealth for the 
purpose of a public school, or seminary of learning, to 
be erected within the said county, as soon as its circum- 
stances and the state of its funds will permit." 

Three years afterwards, the " public school " alluded 
to in the law just recited, was incorporated in due form, 
with the title of the Transylvania Seminary, and such 
endowments were conferred as was consistent with the 
straitened finances of the colony. With a view to its 
organization, the second Monday in November, 1783, 
was appointed " for the first session of the trustees, to 
be holden" — I quote the language of the charter — " at 
John Crow's station in Lincoln county." 

* Their names were Robert McKenzie, Henry Collins, and Alexander McKee. 



81 

"A seminary of learning in a barbarous neighbor- 
hood " — a wilderness, still resonant with the warwhoop 
of the savage — chartered in the midst of a great politi- 
cal convulsion — organized at a frontier station — on the 
extreme verge of civilized society ! Such were the au- 
spices under which the first literary institution of Ken- 
tucky and of the west, was established-^an institution, 
which having nursed to maturity the intellect of the 
Commonwealth — having in the progress of sixty years 
filled her assemblies with law givers — her cabinets with 
statesmen — her judicial tribunals with ministers of jus- 
tice — her pulpits with divines — and crowded the profes- 
sional ranks at home and abroad with ornaments and 
benefactors of their country, is suffered now in its old 
age, and in the meridian of our strength and prosperity, 
to languish — I will not say to sink — for the want of ad- 
equate patronage and support. 

I pass over the military events of the year 1780 — the 
efforts of Gov. Hamilton to retrieve the loss of Illinois 
and restore the confidence of his allies, by a demonstra- 
tion upon the settlements on the Licking — the incursion 
of Col. Byrd with a large Canadian and Indian force — 
the capture of Ruddle's and Martin's stations — the es- 
cape of Boone from the lower Blue Lick and the death 
of his brother — the expeditions of Clark and Logan 
against the Shawanese, and their gallant reprisals by 
the destruction of the Indian villages on the Miami. 
These movements show that five years of constant and 
obstinate resistance, on the part of the settlers, had not 
yet confirmed their possession of the wilderness. The 
conquest of Vincennes and Kaskaskia gave strength to 
their footholds, and security to a long line of exposed 
frontier, but the British fortress at Detroit still remained, 
and its commander continued to wield a most baneful 
U 



82 

influence over the fierce tribes of the northwest — which 
not ten additional years of battle and of bloodshed were 
sufficient to destroy. Yet in the midst of accumulated 
troubles, the municipal affairs of the country were not 
overlooked by the legislative authorities of Virginia. In 
November, 1780, Kentucky was divided into three 
counties — Fayette county comprised the whole of the 
territory lying "north of a line beginning at the mouth of 
the Kentucky river, and up the same and its middle fork 
to the head, and thence southeast to the Washington 
line." The region "on the south side of the Kentucky 
river, west and north of a line beginning at the mouth of 
Benson's big creek, and running up the same and its 
main fork to the head, thence south to the nearest wa- 
ters of Hammond's creek, and down the same to the town 
fork of Salt river, thence south to Green river, and 
down the same to its junction with the Ohio," was called 
Jeflferson : And "all the residue of the county of Ken- 
tucky" — Lincoln. By what singular inadvertence or 
caprice it happened, that the name of Kentucky was 
wholly lost in this allotment of her territory, I am unable 
to explain. 

Thus far I have treated of the origin and progress 
of the settlement of that part of Kentucky, which 
owing as well to its adjacency to Virginia and its conse- 
quent facility of access, as to the abundance of its wild 
game, and the fertility of its soil, first attracted the at- 
tention of that peculiar class of men, who led the way 
to its discovery and settlement. But there is another 
part which remains to be noticed, extending south from 
the Green river to the line of boundary between the 
States of Tennessee and Kentucky, which although last 
settled, contains now an intelligent, public spirited and 
enterprizing population, and is rising rapidly on the 
strength of its resources, to wealth and importance, of 



83 

whose exploration and occupancy the historians of Ken- 
tucky have given no account. It is not with any ex- 
pectation that, from the scanty materials at my com- 
mand, I can supply the omission in a satisfactory man- 
ner, that I venture to make the attempt. But it is due 
to the occasion — it is due perhaps to myself — that the 
few but indisputable facts which I have been enabled to 
collect, from the depositions of witnesses, contained in 
the records of courts of justice — should not be withheld, 
if they answer no purpose more valuable than to point 
to the pathway of a more extensive and more thorough 
investigation. 

If "the Green river country" was explored as early 
as 1770 — and that it was, there seems to be no reason to 
doubt* — ten years elapsed before any permanent settle- 
ment was made. A station was established in 1780, on 
the Red river, a tributary of the Cumberland, whose 
confluence with the main stream is near the line of lati- 
tude of thirty six degrees, thirty minutes — It was called 
Maulding's station, after the leader of a liitle band of 
emigrants from Virginia. He had four sons — bold, 
hardy, enterprizing men — habituated from boyhood 
to the hunter's life — devoted to its pursuits — and capa- 

*Mr. Butler has the following note, page 101: "Judge Underwood informs the 
author, that his uncle, Edmund Rogers, had observed ihe following circumstances, 
before there was any settlement south of Green river. '"There was a beech tree stand- 
ing in a bottom on the margin of the east fork of the south branch of Little Barren 
river, about a quarter of a mile from Edmunton, in Barren county, which had upon 
it the name of "James McCall, of Mecklenburg county. North Carolina, June 8th, 
1770." These words were cut in very handsome letters, witU several initials of other 
names. Also on the Sulphur fork of Bay's fork of Big Barren river, at or ntar the 
Sulphur Lick, now in Allen county, southeast of Bowlinggreen, the following words 
were found by the same ancient settler, cut in the bark of a beech tree — "James Mc- 
Call dined here on his way to Natchez, June the 10th, 1770." Judge Under^vond 
when a boy, has frequently seen these memorials of early visitors to Kentucky. The 
party must, in all probability, have perished; unless lome record of their visit may be 
prteetved in North Carolina ." 



84 

ble of enduring its hardships. They "became acquaint- 
ed with the surrounding country in the same year," and 
were in the habit of visiting the several "Muddy river 
Hcks." One of them settled in 1784 on Whippoorwill 
creek, a branch of the Red river in the present county 
of Logan. There were other settlements on the Elk 
fork of the same river, in the vicinity of each other, 
one of which was composed in 1785 of six families : and 
these were the germs of the subsequent population of 
the adjacent country. In 1792 the county of Logan 
was severed from Lincoln by an act of the Kentucky 
Legislature, and in that year several cabins w^ere built 
in the town of Russellville, which became the seat of 
justice of the whole territory south of the Green river. 

In 1780 Col. Clark descended the Ohio from the Ra- 
pids with his Virginia regiment, and established Fort 
Jefferson at the point where the line of latitude of thirty 
six degrees thirty minutes strikes the left bank of the 
Mississippi. The Chickasaw Indians then had title to 
the country west of the Tennessee, and was exasperated 
by such a movement of apparent hostility. Between 
that tribe and the colonies an unbroken friendship had 
existed during the war of the Revolution, which it was 
exceedingly important to preserve. The fort was aban- 
doned therefore as soon as their dissatisfaction was 
known, and the immediate consequence was, the resto- 
ration of their attachment and confidence. 

In 1785, *Andrew McFadin built a station on Big Bar- 

*I take the following statement from the deposition of James Doughty, in the cause 
of Gossom versus Sharp's Devisees, determined by the Court of Appeals of Ken- 
tucky. 

"When I first came here," says the venerable pioneer, "it was not Warren county. 
The country was not settled. McFadin's station was the only settlement except Chap- 
roan's. The next was Nashville. There was also a settlement on Little Barren river. 
I lived at McFadin's station, and was employed by him as a hunter to kill game." He 
came to the county in 1791. 



85 

ren river, distant some four or five miles above the pre- 
sent flourishing town of Bowlinggreen, which from its 
position on the main trace that led from the settlements 
on the north of the Green river to those on the Cumber- 
land and the Red rivers was, for several years, a con- 
venient and secure resting place for travellers in each 
direction. I have never understood that these southern 
settlements were at any time disturbed by the savages — 
a fact which is attributable to the peaceful disposition 
of the Chickasaws, and the remoteness of the belligerent 
tribes. The settlements farther north were less fortu- 
nate. In the year 1780 there were two stations on the 
right bank of the Green river — Pitman's station, near 
the mouth of Sinking or Pitman's creek, and Glover's — 
where Greensburgh now stands. They were about five 
miles apart, and equally weak and indefensible. In 
February, 1781, "they were broken up by the Indians" 
— the inhabitants, it is probable, having escaped with 
their lives. Skagg's settlement on Brush creek was 
made about the same time, and there was another a 
few miles distant on Little Barren River.* 

Such is the substance ofmy information in respect to 
the settlement of the " Green river country." In recur- 
ring to the scenes through which the northern settlers 
were yet to pass, before they experienced a consumma- 
tion of their long deferred hopes of tranquility and peace, 
I proceed at once to the occurrences of the year 1782, 
when the hostile elements seem to have gathered into 
one dark and portentous cloud to break in torrents over 
their heads. They were beset by a succession of de- 
feats and disasters of such fearful import, as to excite 
well founded apprehensions of the fate of the settle- 

* See Appendix — note L, 



86 

ments, and indeed so deep and prevalent were they, that 
in a moment of despondency, a meeting was held at 
Harrodsburgh to consider of the propriety of an aban- 
donment of the country in mass. 

The reverses of the year commenced early in the 
spring by an attack on Strode's station,* which was 
succeeded by another on Estill's station in the month of 
March, by a party of five and twenty Wyandots — who 
killed one man, took a negro prisoner, and disappeared. 
Capt. James Estill — a man whose skill and gallantry 
eminently fitted him to bear a conspicuous part in the 
conquest of the wilderness — was the commander of the 
last mentioned station. He was absent on a military 
excursion for the protection of the settlements, and hav- 
ing received intelligence of the investment of the fort 
and the escape of the savages, he immediately hastened 
in pursuit of them, with a company of brave, active, 
spirited men. The Indians crossed the Kentucky riv- 
er — directed their course toward the Ohio — and were 
overtaken about two miles from the Little Mountain, the 
present site of the village of Mountsterling, just as they 
had reached the right bank of Hinkston's branch of 
Licking river. As soon as they were discovered, Capt. 
Estill halted his company on the left bank, and formed 
them in front of the Indian line. They counted no more 
than twenty five men : the number of the Indians was 
exactly equal. If the former were resolute and eager 
for battle, the latter were proverbial for their martial 
qualities and disregard of death. If the Kentuckians 
were practised and skillful in the use of the rifle, they 
had no superiority in that respect over their enemy. At 
the moment of the discovery of the Indians, several guns 

*In the pretent county of Clarke — near Winchester. 



87 

were fired upon them, and their chief was severely 
wounded. The first impulse of his warriors was to save 
themselves and him by a precipitate flight : but his voice 
of encouragement was heard and obeyed, and both par- 
ties prepared for action on the ground they occupied. 
Capt. Estill perceived upon a rapid survey of the adja- 
cent ground, a valley stretching from the creek behind 
the Indian line, and deeming it easily accessible, he or- 
dered Lieutenant Miller and six men to cross the creek, 
assume a position in the enemy's rear, and open a fire 
upon them. Instead of executing the order, Miller led 
the detachment entirely off the ground. Estill's line 
was now reduced to nineteen men. Notwithstandmg 
the disparity of force, the battle raged with great obsti- 
nacy for more than an hour. Nothing in the annals of 
Indian warfare has exceeded the coolness and determi- 
nation with which it was conducted on both sides. The 
nearness of their lines enabled the combatants to select 
their respective antagonists, and as each concealed him- 
self, according to the Indian mode, behind some adja- 
cent tree, the firing was kept up with the utmost delib- 
eration, and with fatal effect. There was no occasion 
for the display of military skill and discipline — no 
marching and countermarching — no shifting of position, 
unless thai may be so regarded which consisted in 
creeping stealthily from one tree to another with a view 
to a more advantageous position, or to a closer approxi- 
mation of the contending ranks. As the smoke of their 
rifles disclosed their places of concealment, each man 
fired when he saw his adversary, or withheld his fire 
until he could direct it with unerring and deadly aim. 
In this desultory manner the action was continued — 
neither party having ventured to charge upon the other, 
and both having suffered severely in killed and wounded. 



88 

The Wyandot chief was not ignorant of the advantage 
which Miller's defection had secured to him, and he 
rightly judged that several of Estill's men had fallen. 
His wound had not prevented him from an active parti- 
cipation in the engagement. He was recognized, du- 
ring its progress, by his loud voice and the gaudy trap- 
pings which he displayed, as he flew from tree to tree 
with a velocity that defied the aim of the most expert 
riflemen. At length he gave the order to charge, and 
the whole body of his surviving warriors rushed with 
their characteristic impetuosity upon the weakened hne 
of their adversaries, and compelled it to give way. A 
total route ensued. Captain Estill and his gallant Lieu- 
tenant South, were both killed in the retreat. Four men 
were wounded and fortunately made their escape. Nine 
fell under the tomahawk and were scalped. The Indi- 
ans also suffered severely. Their loss, it was believed, 
amounted to one half of their warriors.* 

Thus terminated this bloody combat, and thus fell in 
the ripeness of his manhood. Captain James Estill, one 
of Kentucky's bravest and most beloved defenders. It 
may be said of him with truth, that if he did not achieve 
the victory — he did more — he deserved it. Disappoint- 
ed of success — vanquished — slain — in a desperate con- 
flict with an enemy of superior strength and of equal 
valor, he has nevertheless left behind him a name of 
which his descendants may well be proud — a name which 
will live in the annals of Kentucky, so long as there 
shall be found men to appreciate the patriotism and self 
devotion of a martyr to the cause of humanity and civi- 
lization. The intelligence of his defeat spread grief and 
dismay throngh the disheartened settlements. As yet 

* See Appendix — note M- 



89 

the savages had been victorious in no engagement of 
equal numbers. The result therefore was ominous — and 
indeed it proved to be the prelude to more aggravated 
disasters. Emboldened by their successes, " the Indi- 
ans," says Boone, "continued their hostilities. On the 
tenth of August two boys were taken from Hoy's sta- 
tion. They were immediately pursued by Capt. Hol- 
der and seventeen men, who were also defeated with the 
loss of four men killed and one wounded. Several sta- 
tions which had lately been erected were continually 
infested." "In a field near Lexington one of the settlers 
was killed, and as the Indian ran to scalp him, he was 
himself shot from the fort and fell dead upon his enemy." 
"Every day," continues Boone, "we experienced recent 
mischiefs." The time was near at hand, when those 
mischiefs were to increase in enormity to an almost in- 
supportable extent. 

Seven years of incessant strife and hardship had now 
elapsed, since the pioneers had entered, with the view 
to possess, the wilderness. It is impossible to look back 
upon the struggles of these unconquerable men, and for- 
ward to those which they were yet to encounter, with- 
out the strongest emotions of sympathy for their suffer- 
ings, and admiration of the fortitude with which they 
were sustained. Scarcely had their confidence time to 
recover from the shock it received by the defeat of Cap- 
tain Estill, when new and more appalling dangers befcl 
them, from the sudden incursion of a larger force than 
had at any time threatened the settlements. It con- 
sisted of a combination of Shawanese, Cherokees, Wy- 
andots, Miamis and Pottawatamies, stimulated by the 
counsels of Simon Girty — the most abandoned incendiary 
of modern times. They embodied themselves about the 
first of August at the old town of Chilli cothe, for a des- 
12 



90 ^ 

perate effort against the Kentucky stations. Girty was 
their commander. He was by birth a white man, of 
American extraction. He had Hved in Pennsylvania, and 
having been thwarted in his schemes of promotion and 
aggrandizement, he abandoned the society of civilized 
men for a more congenial companionship with savages, 
and burning with indignation and revenge, threw him- 
self into the arms of the Wyandots, one of the most fe- 
rocious of their tribes. He became an Indian by adop- 
tion — acquired their habits — participated in their deli- 
berations — inflamed their passions — and goaded them 
on to deeds of inhuman atrocity. I called him an in- 
cendiary. He was worse — he was a monster. No fam- 
ished tiger ever sought the blood of a victim with more 
unrelenting rapacity, than Girty sought the blood of a 
white man. He could laugh, in fiendish mockery, at 
the agonies of a captive, burning and writhing at the 
stake. He could witness, unmoved, the sacrifice of un- 
offending women and children. No scene of torture or 
of bloodshed was sufficiently horrible to excite compas- 
sion in his bosom. Once only was he known to interpose 
his influence to rescue a prisoner from his doom. He 
saved the life of Simon Kenton, and yet it has been 
doubted whether this sole redeeming act of his apostacy 
was the result of humanity, of caprice, or of shame. 
Kenton and Girty had served together as spies in the 
expedition of Lord Dunmore. They had been associ- 
ates, therefore ; and as far as it is possible for a demon 
to be a friend, Girty had cherished a friendship for his 
companion in arms. The better opinion seems to be, 
that his motives on that occasion were upright and hu- 
mane — and for the honor of human nature let it be ad- 
mitted that they were. Still he was worse than a blood 
thirsty savage, and his memory deserves, as it has re- 
ceived, unmitigated execration. 



91 

Such was the man who conducted the swarm of nor- 
thern savages on this fatal expedition. They marched 
with such celerity and caution that their movements 
were.wholly unobserved, until on the night of the four- 
teenth of August, Bryant's station on the Elkhorn was 
surrounded by an army of near six hundred warriors. 
Information had been received at the fort, on the previ- 
ous evening, of Capt. Holder's defeat, and the garrison 
was preparing to march at day break the next morning, 
to the relief of Hoy's station. Instead, therefore, of 
finding the fort as he supposed he would, reposing in the 
confidence of security, unconscious of the approach of an 
enemy, he found the men under arms ready to receive him. 
The lights were not extinguished, and "notes of pre- 
paration" were heard, during the whole night. All that 
he saw betokened that the settlers were resorting to the 
most vigorous measures of defence. If these indica- 
tions induced him to suppose that his approach had been 
anticipated, his arrangements for attack were most inju- 
diciously concerted. He concealed a considerable body 
of Indians near the spring which supplied the station 
with water. Another party was ordered to assume a 
position in full view of the garrison — to display itself at 
a given time and open a fire upon them — with the hope 
of enticing them to an engagement outside of the walls. 
If this stratagem proved successful, the remainder of 
the forces were so disposed as to seize the opportunity 
which the withdrawal of the garrison afforded, to storm 
one of the gates and take forcible possession of the fort. 
The inhabitants, all the while, were wholly unapprized 
of their danger. Their preparations having been fin- 
ished, at the appointed time of departure, they threw 
open their gates and were in the act of setting out on 
their excursion, when a sudden firing announced th« 



92 

presence of an enemy, and the gates were instantly 
closed. A salutation so unexpected produced some sen- 
sation of dismay : but it was momentary only. Among 
the inhabitants of Bryant's station, there were some 
experienced champions of the frontier. The Johnsons 
and the Craigs were of the number ; men who did not 
turn pale at the sight of an enemy — who were fa- 
miliar with the wiles of Indian warfare, and not apt to 
be intimidated by any sudden emergency. Every effort 
was now made to protect the station.* The gates — 
the bastions — the loopholes were manned — the breaches 
in the palisades were repaired — and messengers were 
forthwith despatched to the adjoining stations to com- 
municate intelligence of the siege, and to procure as- 
sistance. The attack proceeded alone from the party 
to whom Girty had assigned the duty of making it. But 
it was soon discovered that the assailants composed an 
Inconsiderable number of the Indian army, and that its 
main body lay concealed on the opposite side of the sta- 
tion. The object of the attack was now very clearly 
perceived. Veteran backwoodsmen were at no loss to 
conclude, that the movement was a feint to mask other 
designs — that the purpose of the Indians was to lure 
the garrison from the defence of the fort, by the prospect 
of an engagement on equal terms — and that done, the 
main body of the army would force their way into it, 
with no other obstacle to encounter than its weak and 
undefended gates. The garrison determined to take 
advantage of their knowledge of these designs, and Girty 
became entangled in the meshes of his own net. Thir- 
teen young men of the fort were sent in pursuit of the 
assailing Indians, who had in the mean time fallen back, 

*Mr. McClung has preserved a singular anecdote of female intrepidity connected 
with tht» siege, which I have transcribed — See Appendix — note N. 



93 

with orders to bring on a fierce and active engagement, 
but to avoid being drawn off to an inconvenient distance, 
while the remainder of the garrison consisting of not 
more than thirty men would arrange themselves in such 
manner as to receive the attack of the principal army. 
The stratagem was eminently successful. The sound 
of the guns in the right quarter, again and again re- 
peated, and gradually becoming less audible in the dis- 
tance, assured Girty of the progress of his designs. He 
started abruptly to his feet, and rushed with headlong 
fury to the nearest gate, followed by five hundred war- 
riors. Volley after volley of well directed rifles from 
the interior of the station, convinced the bloody rene- 
gade that he was himself the dupe of an artifice, and, 
struck with consternation, the whole Indian army pre- 
cipitately fled. The gallant young backwoodsmen re- 
turned in safety from the sortie, and were received with 
joyful acclamation within the walls. 

The siege from this time was prosecuted without dis- 
guise, and a regular but ineffectual firing was kept up 
on both sides for several hours. At two o'clock in the 
evening, a reinforcement, consisting of about fifty men 
on horse back and on foot — arrived from Lexington. 
The Indians were apprised that they were on the march, 
and prepared to receive them. The road frem Lexing- 
ton to the besieged station ran close along side of a 
fence, which formed one line of enclosure of a large 
field of corn, and opposite to it was a dense forest. 
On each side of the road a detachment of three hun- 
dred Indians lay concealed, awaiting the arrival, and 
confident of the sacrifice, of the whole re-inforcement. 
The attack upon the fort had subsided when the horse- 
men came in sight — not an Indian was to be seen. As 
they entered the avenue between the forest and the 



94 

fence, the Indians commenced their fire upon them. They 
dashed on, at full speed toward the station, amidst show- 
ers of bullets from both lines of the ambuscade, which 
was not farther apart than thirty feet, and reached the 
gate without the loss of a man. The remainder of the 
party, being on foot, advanced in a different direction 
and with different fortune. They attempted to pass 
through the field, and screened by the stalks and blades 
of corn then full grown, they would probably not have 
been discovered; but at the first fire of the Indians, they 
hurried impetuously and without a moment's reflection, 
to the spot where they supposed their companions were 
engaged, into the very arms of danger. Their guns 
being uncharged, the Indians instantly turned upon them 
with uplifted tomahawks. An immediate retreat was 
the consequence. I omit the details of the skirmish 
that accompanied it. The larger number succeeded in 
making their escape out of the field, and concealed 
themselves in an adjoining canebrake — Six only were 
killed and wounded. Girty joined in the pursuit. A 
ball from the rifle of one of the retreating party, struck 
him on the side, and he fell — apparently dead upon the 
ground. But the measure of his crimes was not yet 
lull. The ball lodged in his shotpouch, and his life was 
prolonged. 

The day was now closing, and the station was un- 
scathed. It was stronger than on the night of the four- 
teenth, when the investment took place. The hopes of 
the Indians began to give way. They had experienced 
sore disappointment. A severe loss had been sustained 
in the unavailing attempt to storm the fort in the morn- 
ing, and they had signally failed in their anticipated 
discomfiture of the Lexington re-inforcement. Besides 
it was probable, that other and more formidable re- 



95 

inforcements were expected, and the allied army might 
be overpowered and defeated. The chiefs were in favor 
of an immediate decampment — all but Girty, the most 
ferocious of them all. Foiled in his efforts to reduce 
the garrison by force, he had the vanity to believe that 
he could obtain possession by negotiation. Vain and 
preposterous credulity ! Little did he know of the cha- 
racter of his adversaries, if he supposed that he could 
achieve by threats or persuasion what he had failed to 
do by arms. Crawling to a stump adjacent to one of 
the bastions, with a loud voice he demanded to be heard. 
He spoke in terms of commendation of their manly de- 
fence of the station — but a further resistance, he said, 
was impracticable. He alluded to the numbers and 
fierceness of his followers — threatened the garrison with 
his artillery, which he hourly expected to arrive — re- 
minded them of the danger of falling into the hands of 
the savages, if the fort were taken by violence — promised 
life and safety, if a prompt surrender were made — and 
having announced the terrible name of the speaker, he 
concluded with a solemn declaration upon his honor that 
he would be faithful to his assurances. The garrison 
listened without conviction and without fear. Their 
answer was decisive of their determination to defend the 
fort at all hazards. Piqued at the language of the young 
backwoodsman who delivered it,* Girty returned to his 
quarters, and immediate preparations were made for 
the abandonment of the siege. Morning dawned upon 
a deserted camp. The renegade and his warriors were 
on the retreat to their villages. 

Information of the attack on Bryant's station having 
spread with great rapidity through the settlements, the 

* See Appendix — note O. 



96 

militia were immediately summoned to its defence, and 
on the eighteenth of August, a respectable force from 
the adjacent stations was upon the ground. Col. John 
Todd from Lexington, was the commanding officer. The 
officers next to him in rank, were Lieutenant Colonel 
Trigg, of Harrodsburgh, Lieutenant Colonel Boone, of 
Boonesborough, and Majors Harlan, McGary and Levi 
Todd. Such were the commanders, and Kentucky 
contained no better materials than composed the rank 
and file of this gallant but devoted band. Col. Logan 
had been notified of the siege, and it was believed that 
he was on the march with a considerable re-inforcement. 
Eager for a conflict and ignorant of the strength of the 
enemy, the majority of the officers determined to pursue 
them forthwith without awaiting his arrival. On the 
evening of the day of their rendezvous at Bryant's sta- 
tion, they set oflf in great haste on the Indian trail, and 
followed it with the utmost ardor and impatience to the 
Licking river. There, for the first time, the troops in 
front of the line saw, from the southern bank of the 
river, a small party of Indians slowly winding their way 
up the hill on the northern shore. The Indians perceiv- 
ed that they were discovered, but manifested no anxiety 
to hasten their pace. They paused — threw a moment- 
ary glance at the advancing column of the Kentucky 
troops — then with great deliberation moved on, until 
they were lost to the view on the other side of the hill. 
The pursuing army came to an immediate halt. The 
occasion called for the utmost caution and deliberation, 
and a council of officers was summoned to consult upon 
the propriety of their future movements. The demeanor 
of the Indians Avho had just disappeared over the ridge, 
was not the only circumstance that awakened suspicion 
of impending mischief. Other circumstances had been 



97 

observed upon the march. The Indians had taken the 
main buffalo trace to the loMer Blue Lick. The chops 
of their hatchets were frequently to be seen, marking 
distinctly the direction of their march. These indica- 
tions, together with their leisurely movements — the 
small number of their camp fires — the circumscribed 
limits of their camps — evinced to the practised judgment 
of the older pioneers, a confidence of superior numbers 
and a settled purpose to invite pursuit. But these were 
not the only causes of uneasiness. The place where 
they now were, was remote from the settlements, and 
if they should be defeated, timely assistance was im- 
practicable. Whoever has been on the spot where the 
battle of the Blue Lick was fought will readily under- 
stand how their sensations of uneasiness, once excited, 
could have been increased by the natural objects around 
them. The country on both sides of the Licking, was 
singularly wild and irregular. The trace along which 
they marched, conducted through narrow and difficult 
passes of almost inaccessible hills. Directly opposite to 
the place where they paused to deliberate, the hill on 
which the Indians were seen, jutted in between two 
parallel lines of an abrupt bend of the river. It was of 
considerable elevation, and in the valley at its base 
about two hundred yards from the northern shore, rose 
a spacious fountain of mineral water. It had been the 
resort of buffaloes and other wild animals so long and in 
such numbers, that the southern slope of the hill was 
bare of soil and vegetation — presenting an aspect of 
nakedness and sterility, which contrasted strongly with 
the foliage of the adjacent forests. About a mile and a 
half from the spring, at the place of nearest approxima- 
tion of the lines of the river, two ravines, stretching 
obliquely to the right and left communicated with it. 
13 



98 

They were separated by a narrow ridge over which the 
buffalo trace led. In those ravines, the Indians posted 
themselves in ambush. 

The council of officers was held under circumstances, 
extremely adverse to a dispassionate consideration of the 
emergency of their situation. While they were assem- 
bled at Bryant's, some discussion had arisen among 
them, in respect to the expediency of waiting for Col. 
Logan's troops, and the determination to proceed had 
occasioned some unjust surmises, that the commanding 
officer was anxious for the distinction of prosecuting the 
expedition without him. Whether apprised of these 
dissensions or not, the first movement of Col. Todd in 
the council, was certainly well calculated to allay ihem. 
He called on Colonel Boone for his advice. The opin- 
ion of one, distinguished for his prudence and circum- 
spection, as well as his long and intimate acquaintance 
with the movements of the savages, could not fail to 
have great weight. Besides his well known caution and 
experience, Boone was familiar with the circumjacent 
country. He had made salt at the lick. He had hunt- 
ed in its vicinity. It was there that he fell into the 
hands of the savages in 1778. TFAo^e judgment, then, 
could have been entitled to greater confidence? His 
opinion was, that the army of the Indians consisted of 
from three to five hundred warriors. The reasons for 
that opinion have been already given. He alluded to 
the ravines, and suggested the probability that the Indi- 
ans there lay in wait to receive them. To obviate all 
difficulties, he deemed it most expedient that they should 
suspend their march, until Col. Logan's re-inforcement 
came up — but in the event they determined to proceed, 
he advised that the troops should be divided into two 
companies — one of which should march up the river — 



99 

cross it beyond the ravine, and be prepared to attack 
the enemy in the rear : while the other should advance 
from the position the}^ then occupied, to the high ground 
where he supposed the ambuscade was formed, and thus 
he concluded, by an efficient co-operation of the two 
parties, the Indians themselves might be surprised and 
defeated. If, however, this proposition were unaccept- 
able, he next insisted that before they continued their 
march, an effort should be made to ascertain, if practi- 
cable, the exact position of the enemy by a close exami- 
nation of the adjoining country. /Before any judgment 
was pronounced by the council upon the expediency of 
either movement, all further proceedings were arrested 
by the indiscreet zeal of one of the officers, who had par- 
ticipated in the dissatisfaction that has been mentioned. 
Scarcely had Boone submitted his opinions, when Major 
McGary "raised the warwhoop," and spurring his horse 
into the river, called vehemently upon all who were not 
cowards to follow Aim, and he would show them the en- 
emy. Presently the army was in motion. The greater 
part suffered themselves to be led by McGary — the re- 
mainder, perhaps a third of the whole number, lingered 
a while with Todd and Boone in council. All at length 
passed over, and at Boone's suggestion, the command- 
ing officer ordered another halt. The pioneer then pro- 
posed, a second time, that the army should remain where 
it was, until an opportunity was afforded to reconnoitre 
the suspected region. So reasonable a proposal was ac- 
ceded to, and two bold but experienced men were select- 
ed, to proceed from the lick along the buffalo trace to a 
point half a mile beyond the ravines, where the road 
branched off in different directions. They were in- 
structed to examine the country with the utmost care 
on each side of the road, especially the spot where it 



100 

passed between the ravines, and upon the first appear- 
ance of the enemy to repair in haste to the army. The 
spies discharged the dangerous and responsible task. 
They crossed over the ridge — proceeded to the place 
designated beyond it, and returned in safety without 
having made any discovery. No trace of the enemy 
was to be seen. The little army of one hundred and 
eighty two men* now marched forward — Col. Trigg was 
in command of the right wing, Boone of the left, McGary 
in the centre, and Major Harlan with the party in front. 
Such is Boone's account of the positions of the several 
officers.t He does not define Col. Todd's. The histo- 
rians have assigned him to the right with Coli Trigg.J 
The better opinion seems to be that he commanded the 
centre. II As they approached the ravines it became 
apparent that Boone's anticipations were well founded, 
and that the vigilance of the spies had been completely 
eluded. The enemy lay concealed in both ravines in 
great numbers. The columns marched up within forty 
yards of the Indian line before a gun was fired. The 
battle immediately commenced with great fury, and most 
destructive effects on both sides. The advantage of 
position and overwhelming numbers soon determined it 
in favor of the savages. The first fire was peculiarly 
severe upon the right. Col. Trigg fell, and with him 
nearly the whole of the Harrodsburgh troops. Boone 
manfully sustained himself on the left. Major Harlan 
defended the front until only three of his men remained. 
He also fell, covered with wounds. The Indians now 

• Butler, 125, on the authority of Gen, Clark. 

tSee Boone's letter to the Governor of Virginia. Appendix — note P. 

1 1 Marshall, 139. 

II See Appendix — note Q. 



101 

rushed upon them with their tomahawks, spreading 
confusion and dismay through their broken and disabled 
ranks. The whole right, left and centre gave way, and 
a mingled and precipitate retreat commenced. Some 
regained their horses — others fled on foot. Col. Todd 
was shot through the body, and when he was lasi seen, 
he was reeling in his saddle, while the blood gushed in 
profusion from his wound. The Indians were then in 
close pursuit. There was but one convenient way of 
escape, and that was in the direction to the lick where 
the army had crossed the river. To that point, the 
larger number of the fugitives hurried with tumultuous 
rapidity ,''down the naked slope of the hill. No sooner 
had they reached it, than the Indians were upon them. 
I shall not attempt to describe the dreadful scene of 
terror and of blood that ensued. It is enough, that 
many brave men perished on that fatal day. Of the 
one hundred and eighty two who went into the battle, 
one third were killed and seven were made prisoners. 
The extent of the Indian loss is not certainly known. It 
is represented to have been equally severe.* 

The fugitives met the van of Col. Logan's party, after 
they had passed Bryant's on their march toward the Blue 
Lick. On the reception of the melancholy intelligence, 
the veteran pioneer burst into tears. Instantly he re- 
turned to the station to await the arrival of another 
company, and as soon as it came up he resumed his 
march. He did not reach the battle jrround until two 
days after the engagement. He found it strewed with 
the mangled bodies of the slain, and having paid to their 
remains the last debt of humanity, he repaired without 
delay to the settlements. 

* 1 Marshall, 142, who says «*64 were killrd and a number wounded." 



102 

The news of this grievous disaster went, like a dagger, 
to the hearts of the people of Kentucky. The loss in 
numerical strength alone was most severely felt at a 
time when the stations were in such frequent danger : 
but the death of such men as Todd and Trigg and Har- 
lan was universally lamented as a great public calamity. 
Col. Todd had acquired deserved distinction among the 
settlers for his intelligence and public spirit. He had 
been a member of the Transylvania Assembly, in 1775, 
and was elected, after the establishment of the county of 
Kentucky, one of its first burgesses to the General 
Assembly of Virginia. If he had lived, he would un- 
doubtedly have taken rank with the most distinguished 
men of his time.* Col. Trigg and Major Harlan were 
equally admired, for the many estimable qualities that 
fitted them fur extensive usefulness as citizens as well as 
soldiers. The former came to Kentucky in the fall of 

1779, as a member of the court of land commissioners, 
and after the dissolution of that body in the spring of 

1780, he selected the new county as his permanent 
home. Major Harlan was early associated with the de- 
fenders of the frontier. He took an active part in the 
Illinois campaigns, and it was said of him by General 
Clark, "that he was one of the bravest and most accom- 
plished soldiers that ever fought by his side." Such an 
eulogy from such a man may safely be regarded as dis- 
pensing with the necessity of any additional commenda- 
tion from me.^ A general sympathy was felt for Colonel 
Boone. His'son was wounded in the action and died 
on the retreat. The pioneer himself narrowly escaped. 



♦ As these pages are going to the press, I have received some interesting facts con- 
nected with Col. Todd's life, which I have not had time to prtpare for the text of the 
address. See Appendix — not« R. 



103 

His position devolved upon him the duty of bringing on 
the engagement, and having discharged that duty with 
his accustomed fidehty, he devoted himself with true 
paternal solicitude, after the fortune of the day was de- 
termined, to the rescue and preservation of his son. 
Taking him under his charge, and availing himself of 
his acquaintance with the surrounding country, he 
avoided the road which the mass of the fugitives pur- 
sued in the retreat, and crossed the Licking at the mouth 
of Indian creek, a mile or two below the Lick. But the 
wound which the stripling soldier had received was mor- 
tal. Boone clearly perceived that the hand of death 
was upon him ; and abandoning him to his fate, he con- 
sulted his own safety by eluding the pursuit of the sav- 
ages. 

General Clark was no sooner apprised of Col. Todd's 
defeat, than he determined on an expedition into the 
Indian country. He summoned a council of officers of 
his brigade to meet him at the falls of Ohio, and arrange- 
ments were made without delay for the campaign. Not- 
withstanding the reverses of the spring and summer, the 
patriotism of the settlers was found equal to the emer- 
gency, and a thousand mounted riflemen assembled at 
the mouth of the Licking river in September, 1782. 
General Clark took the command in person. Colonels 
Floyd and Logan were his subordinates. Boone, as 
usual, was along — probably as a volunteer. The army 
marched with so much rapidity, that when they ap- 
proached the nearest Indian village, they found them- 
selves within a short distance of the camp ol a party 
of warriors, who were on their return from the bloody 
field of the Blue Lick. Two straggling Indians discov- 
ered their approach, and instantly communicating the 
alarm, "the savages," says Boone, "fled in the utmost 



104 

disorder, evacuated their towns, and left their territory 
to our mercy." General Clark took immediate posses- 
sion of the old town of Chillicothe, and of several other 
villages on the Miami river — reduced the whole to 
ashes — laid waste the fields of corn — desolated the 
country in his march, and returned to Kentucky with 
the loss of only four men. 

This was the last expedition in which Daniel Boone 
was enofaged for the defence of the settlements of Ken- 
tucky ; and before I proceed to the remaining topics of 
this already protracted discourse, I propose to follow to 
its termination the subsequent career of this remarkable 
man. 

The definitive treaty of peace between the United 
States and Great Britian in 1783, confirmed the title of 
the former to Independence, and Boone saw the stand- 
ard of civilization and freedom securely planted in the 
wilderness. He rejoiced in the prospect of being per- 
mitted to resume the peaceful habits of a hunter, and to 
apply himself to the more profitable business of entering 
and surveying lands, which, next to the defence of the 
frontier, was the principal employment of the Kentucky 
emigrants, after the opening of the surveyor's ofiices in 
the fall of 1782. Upon the establishment of the court 
of commissioners in 1779, he "laid out the chief of his 
little property to procure land warrants, and having 
raised about twenty thousand dollars in paper money 
with which he intended to purchase them, on his way 
from Kentucky to Richmond he was robbed of the whole, 
and left destitute of the means of procuring more."* 
This heavy misfortune did not fall upon himself alone. 
Large sums had been entrusted to him by his friends for 

*See Boone's memorial to the Legislature of Kentucky iu 1812. 



105 

similar purposes, and the loss was extensively felt.* 
"Unacquainted with the niceties of the law, the few 
lands he was enabled afterwards to locate," he informs 
us, "were through his ignorance generally swallowed 
up, and lost by better claims." Dissatisfied with these 
impediments to the acquisition of the soil, he left Ken- 
tucky, and settled himself at the mouth of the Kenhawa. 
It was during his residence there in 1794, that for the 
jBrst time he was made acquainted with the resources 
of the immense region beyond the Mississippi. The 
fertile and extensive prairies of the far west — abounding 
with game — awakened his imagination to new sources of 
enjoyment, and "he passed over to the Spanish province 
of Upper Louisiana." In 1795 he was a wanderer on 
the banks of the Missouri — a voluntary subject of the 
King of Spain. 

*The receipt that follows, has been furnished to me by my friend Nathaniel Hart* 
Jr., Esq., of Woodfoid. I am indebted to him also for tiie perusal of the letter, from 
which the subjoined extract is talcen. The receipt is in Capt. Han's hand writing. 
The signature is Boone's. It is plainly and very well written. They both explain 
the transaction to which allusion is made in the text: the money mentioned in the re- 
ceipt, being part of the sum of which the pioneer was robbed. 

♦'Received of Nathaniel Hart twenty six hundred and forty six pounds, ten shillings, 
" Virginia money, to be advanced on warrants at Williamsburgh. Also, three hund- 
" red pounds, to be given to Mrs. Hart, if she wants: otherwise, to be advanced in war- 
" rants. Witness my hand this 12th day of February, 1780. 

" DANIEL BOONE." 

Extract of a letter from Col. Thomas Hart, late of Lexington, Kentuclcy, to Capt. 
Nathaniel Hart, dated Grayfields, August 3, 1780. 

*'' I observe what you say respecting our losses by Daniel Boone. I had heard of the 
" misfortune soon after it happened, but not of my being a partaker before now. I feel 
" for the poor people who perhaps are to lose even their pre-emptions : but I must 
" say, I feel more for Boone, whose character, I am told, suflfers by it. Much degene- 
*^ rated must the people of this age be, when amongst them are to be found men to ten- 
'''sure and blast the reputation of a person so just and upright, and in whose breast is a 
" seat of virtue too pure to admit of a thought so base and dishonorable. I have known 
" Boone in times of old, when poverty and distress had him fast by the hand: and in 
"these wretched circumstances, I have ever found him of a noble and generous loul, 
^' despising every thing mean ; and therefore, I will freely grant him a discbarge for what- 
"ever sums of mine he might have been possessed of at the time." 

14 



106 

His fame as a pioneer had preceded him — " The re- 
ception he met with from the Spanish Governor was 
equal to his expectations." Ten thousand acres of 
land was allotted to him, by metes and bounds, for his 
own use on the Missouri river ; but with his habitual 
indifference to the accumulation of property, he neglect- 
ed to complete the title, ''because that could ojily be done 
at New Orleans.^^ He was immediately honored with 
the confidence and favor of the Governor of Louisiana — 
accepted the appointmentof "Syndic or chief of the dis- 
trict of St. Charles," and continued to discharge the 
duties of that office during the remaining period of the 
Spanish jurisdiction over the territory. He hailed with 
joy the purchase of Louisiana by the United States, 
"for it was the country," he declared, "and not the 
government that he had gone in pursuit of" — and when 
the commissioners appointed by the government of the 
United States met at St. Louis to adjust the land titles 
derived from Spain within the ceded territory, the Syn- 
dic of St. Charles laid his claim before them for confir- 
mation. The usual condition of a Spanish grant was an 
actual residence upon the land. Boone had not com- 
plied with the condition. He had been assured by the 
Governor that compliance in his case " should be dis- 
pensed with, in consequence of his public trust requiring 
his residence elsewhere." The fact was made known 
to the commissioners, but adhering to the strict letter of 
their instructions, they rejected his claim "for want of 
cultivation and residence." 

Boone appealed to Congress for redress, and contem- 
poraneously with his application to that body, he pre- 
sented a memorial * to the General Assembly of Ken- 



* On the 18th of January, 1812. 



10* 

tucky, soliciting their "aid and influence" in its sup- 
port. The memorial contained "an imperfect sketch of 
his labors" in the wilderness commencing with the year 
1769, "and of his claims to the remembrance of his 
country in general." He spoke of his struggles "in the 
fatal fields which were dyed with the blood of the early 
settlers, amongst whom were some of his dearest connex- 
ions." "The history of the settlement of the western 
country," he said, 'Svas his history." He alluded to 
the "love of discovery and adventure" which had in- 
duced him to expatriate himself, "under an assurance of 
the Governor residing at St. Louis that ample portions 
of land should be given to him and to his family." He 
mentioned the allotment of the land to him — his failure 
to consummate the title, and his unsuccessful application 
to the commissioners of the United States. "Of the 
vast extent of country" which he had discovered and 
explored, "he was unable to call a single acre his own," 
and "he had laid his case before Congress." "Your 
memorialist," he said, "cannot but feel, so long as feel- 
ing remains, that he has a just claim upon his country 
for land to live on, and to transmit to his children after 
him. He cannot help, on an occasion like this, to look 
toward Kentucky. From a small acorn she has become 
a mighty oak, furnishing shelter to upwards of four ^ 
hundred thousand souls. Very different is her appear- 
ance now, from the time when your memorialist, with 
his little band, began to fell the forest, and construct 
the rude fortification at Boonesborough." The vener- 
able pioneer did not look toward Kentucky in vain. 
The memorial was referred to a committee of the Sen- 
ate, consisting of Messrs. Y. Ewing, Hopkins, Caldwell, 
Southgate, Bullock and Walker, and the committee re- 
ported the following preamble and resolutions, which 



108 

passed without a division, through both branches of the 
Legislature. 

"The committee, to whom was referred the memorial 
of Daniel Boone, beg leave to recommend the following 
resolution to be adopted. 

" The Legislature of Kentucky, taking into view the 
many eminent services rendered by Col. Boone in ex- 
ploring and settling the western country, from which 
great advantages have resulted not only to this State 
but to his country in general ; and that from circum- 
stances over which he had no control, he is now reduced 
to poverty — not having, so far as appears, an acre of 
land out of the vast territory he has been a great instru- 
ment in peopling — believing, also, that it is as unjust 
as it is impolitic that useful enterprise and eminent ser- 
vices should go unrewarded by a government where 
merit confers the only distinction — and having suffi- 
cient reason to believe that a grant of ten thousand 
acres of land, which he claims in Upper Louisiana, would 
have been confirmed by the Spanish government, had 
not said territory passed, by cession, into the hands of 
the General Government — wherefore, 

" Resolved by the General Assembly of the Common- 
wealth of Kentucky, That our Senators in Congress be 
requested to make use of their exertions to procure a 
grant of land in said territory to said Boone, either the 
ten thousand acres to which he appears to have an equi- 
table claim, from the grounds set forth to this legisla- 
ture, by way of confirmation, or to such quantity, in 
such place, as shall be deemed most advisable by way 
of donation." 

On the tenth of February, 1814, the Congress of the 
United States confirmed his title "to a thousand arpens 

*See Session Acts, 18H-'I2, 258. 



109 

of the land claimed by him, in virtue of a concession 
made to him under the Spanish grant, bearing date on 
the twenty eighth of January, 1798." 

Boone was now far advanced in years. The remain- 
der of his life was devoted to the society of his children, 
and the employments of the chase — to the latter, espe- 
cially. When age had enfeebled the energies of his once 
athletic frame, he would wander, twice a year, into the 
remotest wilderness he could reach — employing a com- 
panion whom he bound by a written contract, to take 
care of him — and bring him home alive or dead.* In 
April, 1816,t he made such an excursion to Fort Osage, 
a hundred miles beyond the place of his residence, and 
having spent a fortnight there, he set off on a journey to 
the river Platte. Three years thereafter, a patriotic 
solicitude to preserve his portrait, prompted a distin- 
guished American artist J to visit him at his dwelling 
near the Missouri river, and from him I have received 
the following particulars. He found him in a small, rude 
cabin, indisposed and reclining on his bed. A slice from 
the loin of a buck, twisted around the rammer of his 
rifle within reach of him as he lay, was roasting before 
the fire. Several other cabins, arranged in the form of 
a parallelogram, marked the spot of a dilapidated sta- 
tion. They were occupied by the descendants of the 
pioneer. Here he lived in the midst of his posterity. 
His withered energies and locks of snow indicated, that 
the sources of existence were nearly exhausted. On 
the twenty sixth of September, 1820, at the Charette 
village, he breathed his last. The Legislature of Mis- 
souri was in session at St. Louis when the event was 
announced. A resolution was immediately passed, that 



•10 Niles' Register, 361 . tib. :j: Chester Harding, Esq., of Boston. 



110 

in respect for his memory, the members would wear the 
usual badge of mourning for twenty days, and an ad- 
journment was voted for that day.* 

The life of Daniel Boone is a forcible example of the 
powerful influence, which a single absorbing passion 
exerts over the destiny of an individual. Born with no 
endowments of intellect to distinguish him from the crowd 
of ordinary men, and possessing no other acquirements 
than a very common education bestowed, he was enabled 
nevertheless to maintain, throughout a long and useful 
career, a conspicuous rank among the most distinguish- 
ed of his cotcmporaries ; and the testimonials of the 
public gratitude and respect, with which he was honored 
after his death, were such as are never awarded by an 
intelligent people, to the undeserving. In his narrative, 
dictated to Filson in 1784, he described himself as "an 
instrument ordained to settle the wilderness." There 
are certainly passages in his history corroborative of 
this conclusion. His preservation during a solitary so- 
journment of three months in the wilderness — the 
marked forbearance and lenity of the savages toward 
him, especially on the last occasion of his being their 
prisoner — his escape at a most important juncture for 
the defence of his station — would seem to indicate the 
interposition of a superior agency in his behalf. In 
1778, when such formidable preparations were making 
at the old town of Chillicothe for the invasion of Ken- 
tucky, his seasonable return to Boonesborough, saved 
the inhabitants from the grasp of the savages — and if 
Boonesborough had fallen, little doubt can be entertained 
that every station on the frontier would have shared its 
fate. But it is needless to speculate upon a subject, 

*19 NUes' Register, 152. 



about which contradictory opinions may be formed. 
There are those who will coincide with the pioneer, in the 
judgment which he has passed on his own pretensions. 
His instrumentahty in the settlement of the wilderness, 
great and efficacious as it most unquestionably was, 
may be traced to other and more proximate causes, hav- 
ing their origin in the elements of his own peculiar cha- 
racter. He came originally to the wilderness — not to 
settle and subdue it — but to gratify an inordinate pas- 
sion for adventure and discovery — to hunt the deer and 
buffalo — to roam through the woods — to admire the 
"beauties of nature" — in a word, to enjoy the lonely 
pastimes of a hunter's life, remote from the society of 
his fellow men. He had heard with admiration and de- 
light, Finley's description of the "country of Kentucke," 
and high as were his expectations, he found it "a second 
paradise." Its lofty forests — its noble rivers — its pic- 
turesque scenery — its beautiful valleys — but above all, 
the plentifulness of "beasts of every American kind" — 
these were the attractions that brought him to it. He 
came, therefore, not to establish the foundations of a 
great State, nor to extend the empire of civilization, but 
because it was a wilderness — and such a wilderness, as 
realized, in its adaptation to his inclinations and habits, 
the brightest visions of his fancy. Having, for reasons 
like these, chosen it for his abode, nothing was more 
natural than that he should be willing to risk much to 
defend it ; and the peculiar warfare by which the settle- 
ments were to be preserved, put in requisition precisely 
such powers of mind and body as those that he possessed. 
He united, in an eminent degree, the qualities of shrewd- 
ness, caution and courage, with uncommon muscular 
strength. He was seldom taken by surprise — he never 
shrunk from danger, nor cowered beneath the pressure 



112 

of exposure and faftigue. In every emergency he was a 
safe guide and a wise counsellor — because his move- 
ments were conducted with the utmost circumspection, 
and his judgment and penetration were proverbially ac- 
curate. Powerless to originate plans on a large scale, 
no individual among the pioneers could execute, with 
more efficiency and success, the designs of others. He 
took the lead in no expedition against the savages — he 
disclosed no liberal and enlarged views of policy for the 
protection of the stations, and yet it is not assuming too 
much to say, that without him, in all probability, the 
settlements could not have been upheld, and the con- 
quest of Kentucky might have been reserved for the 
emigrants of the nineteenth century. 

With all his qualities as an antagonist of the red man, 
Boone was no lover of war. He took no delight in the 
glory of a conqueror. If he idolized his rifle, it was 
because it contributed to the enjoyment of his darling 
pastimes — not because it was an instrument for shed- 
ding human blood. His character, on the contrary, was 
pacific. But, at the same time, it was unsocial. 
He had few of the sympathies that bind men and 
families together, and consecrate the relations of so- 
ciety. During two whole years, he abandoned his 
family for no other purpose than to amuse himself in the 
wilderness. Yet he was not an unkind husband ; on 
one occasion, we know, he endangered his own, to safe 
the life of his son : and I am not aware, that he was ever 
suspected of treachery in his friendships. At the period 
of his greatest vigor and usefulness, he was remarkable 
for his taciturnity ; but as he grew older, he became an 
agreeable companion — remembering, with distinctness, 
remote events, especially those with which he was con- 
nected, and dwelling upon them with manifest satisfac- 



113 

tion. His manners were simple and unobtrusive — ex- 
empt from the rudeness characteristic of the backwoods- 
man. In his person there was nothing pecuUarly strik- 
ing. He was five feet, ten inches in height — and of ro- 
bust and powerful proportions. His countenance was 
mild and contemplative — indicating a frame of mind 
altogether different from the restlessness] and ''activity 
that distinguished him. His ordinary habiliments were 
those of a hunter — a hunting shirt and moccasins uni- 
formly composing a part of them. Throughout his life, 
he was careless of his pecuniary interests. The loss of 
his lands in Kentucky was chiefly attributable to inat- 
tention. When he emigrated to Louisiana, he omitted 
to secure a title to a princely estate on the Missouri, be- 
cause it would have cost him the trouble of a trip to New 
Orleans. He would have travelled a much greater dis- 
tance to indulge his cherished propensities as an adven- 
turer and a hunter. He died, as he had lived, in a cabin 
-—and perhaps his trusty rifle was the most valuable of 
bis chattels. 

Such was the man to whom has been assigned the 
principal merit of the discovery of Kentucky, and who 
filled a large space in the eyes of America and Europe. 
Resting on the solid advantages of his services to his 
country, his fame will survive when the achievements of 
men, greatly his superiors in rank and intellect, will be 
forgotten. 

With the expedition of General Clark against the 
Miami villages, I close my narrative of the military 
operations of the settlers for the defence of Kentucky. 
It has already, I fear, been drawn out to an inconve- 
nient length, regarding the legitimate limits of an ad- 
dress like this, and to extend it farther would be an 
unwarrantable encroachment on the historian's prov- 
15 



114 

ince. Girty's invasion was the last of a formidable 
character with which the settlements were disturbed. 
The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, on the nine- 
teenth of October, 1781, terminated the American rev- 
olution. The colonies thus far had been engaged in a 
common cause, the triumph of which, it was fondly 
hoped, would lead to a general cessation of hostilities 
with Great Britian and her allies. Kentucky had borne 
her part, feeble and defenceless as she was, in the great 
struggle. Peace was now announced, and the thirteen 
united colonies took their position among the independ- 
ent nations of the earth. But Kentucky was not a re- 
cipient of the common benefits which these glorious 
events were so well calculated to produce. She was 
neither at peace nor independent. An inexorable enemy 
still hovered around her borders, and in small but fre- 
quent marauding parties, continued to ravage her ter- 
ritory and murder her people. She was still a province 
of Virginia, separated by a wide and infested wilderness 
from the seat of the parent government. If military 
aid were required for her defence, the time that would 
elapse before it could be furnished, rendered it, to a 
great extent, unavailable. Virginia, moreover, ardently 
desired to be at rest. A seven years incessant conflict 
had exhausted her finances and enfeebled her strength. 
She required leisure to resuscitate both. If, therefore, 
assistance could be obtained at all, it was apparent that 
it would be sparingly and reluctantly aflforded. Super- 
added to these considerations, the land titles of the set- 
tlers could only be consummated at the seat of govern- 
ment, and that was at a remote distance from the "wes- 
tern waters," where the lands and the surveyors' offices 
were situated. Other embarrassments were experi- 
enced — other grievances complained of — which remain 



115 

to be noticed at the proper time. Under the in- 
fluence of all these circumstances, the people of the 
frontier began to think seriously of a separation from 
the parent Commonwealth. In the autumn of the year 
1784, intelligence was communicated to Colonel Logan, 
that the Cherokees intended to make an incursion into 
the southern part of the State, while the savages of the 
north, it was believed, were meditating a renewal of 
hostilities from that quarter. To counteract these 
movements by the adoption of some systematic plans 
for the protection of the country, a public meeting of 
the inhabitants, upon Logan's suggestion, was convened 
at Danville. The subject having been freely discussed, 
the meeting was brought to the conclusion, that the 
most effectual mode of averting the blows about to be 
aimed at the settlements, was to invade the enemy's 
country with a competent force, and destroy their villa- 
ges. But the question arose, who possessed authority 
to order the expedition and to make provision for the 
necessary supplies? The executive power was at Rich- 
mond, and the laws had vested no such authority in the 
officers of the mihtia or the magistracy of the counties. 
Expeditions of the kind proposed, had, it is true, been 
ordered before that time from Kentucky, but they were 
composed of volunteers who furnished their own supplies 
— they had been brought about by necessity — during a 
period of general war — and when a strong sense of im- 
pending danger impelled every good citizen to take the 
field. Now the danger was not so immediate — the same 
urgent necessity did not exist, and the people of old Vir- 
ginia, having thrown aside their armor, were courting 
repose. The movement, therefore, might not be ap- 
proved by the government, and if condemned, the result 
might be a refusal to pay the expenses of the expedi- 



116 

tions. Such, at least, we are informed,* was the rea- 
soning of those who composed the Danville assembly. 
But there was one subject about which they had less 
difficulty. The proceedings of the meeting, it was ar- 
gued, had disclosed the inefficiency of the existing laws 
for the protection of the frontier, but little doubt could be 
entertained of the ability of the settlers, under a well 
regulated system, to protect themselves. If they pos- 
sessed the physical power to do that, it was all important 
to their security, that they should possess facilities to 
wield it at pleasure, otherwise they were deprived of the 
privilege of self preservation. The occasion which had 
now called them together, displayed the magnitude of 
evil of which they complained. Their implacable enemy 
had threatened their northern and southern borders — 
and although they were not at the doors of their fellow 
citizens, yet a month might elapse before every western 
station would be struggling for existence against vastly 
superior numbers. There was safety in preventing, as 
well as in repelling, aggression, and experience had 
convinced the settlers, that the most successful method 
of guarding against invasion, was to become invaders 
themselves. The General Assembly was alone compe- 
tent to relieve them from the embarrassments of their 
condition, and the meeting adjourned, after recommend- 
ing to the people a convention of delegates from the 
several counties, to be held at Danville, on the twenty 
seventh of December, 1784. A circular letter was pre- 
pared and disseminated, advising an election of suitable 
persons to the convention, and that each militia com- 
pany in the districtt should choose one delegate. No 

•I Marsh. 191. 

1 1 omitted to state, in the proper place, that in March, 1783, the three counties of 
F«7«tte, Jefferson itnd Lincoln, were formed into a judicial district, railed the district 



117 

intimation was given in the letter, that a separation 
from Virginia would be a subject for discussion. The 
avowed object"of the con vent ion' was to adopt measures 
of self defence, and to present their grievances, in the 
most imposing form, to the Legislature. The proposi- 
tion was every where favorably received — the elections 
took place — and on the day appointed, the convention 
met at Danville. That estimable citizen, Samuel Mc- 
Dowell, was elected President, and Thomas Todd, late 
one of the justices of the Supreme'Court of the United 
States, was appointed Clerk. The names of the mem- 
bers of this convention have been omitted by the histo- 
rians, and have not, probably, been preserved. The 
first subject that engaged their attention, was the one 
which had been discussed by the preceding assembly — 
the defence of the country, and the subsisting powers, 
municipal and military, of the local governments. Ten 
days were occupied with their deliberations. It was 
the opinion of a decided majority, that although much 
could be done for their relief by the General Assembly, 
yet that permanent security consisted alone in a separa- 
ration from Virginia, and the formation of an independ- 
ent government. There was a small minority of a dif- 
ferent opinion, and the majority, in as much as they 
were not elected with a view to the agitation of the sub- 
ject, did no more than adopt a resolution expressive of 
their views, and recommending that, at their elections 
for burgesses, in the following April, the people should 

of Kentucky. It "wai opened at Hariodsburgh," says Mr. Butler, "by John Floyd, 
and Samuel McDowell, as Judges. George Muter did not attend until 1785. The 
two former, appointed John May their clerk. Walker Daniel was likewise appointed 
by the Governor of Virginia, Attorney General. This constitutes" — he continuei — 
"the third legislative alteration of Kentucky. 1. The county of Kentucky. 2. Th« 
three counties sinking the^name of Kentucky. 3. The district, reviving the name of 
Kentucky, to go out, we trust, no more forever.^' Butlet^s Kentucky, 141. 



118 

also choose delegates to a second covention to be held at 
Danville in May, vested with full power to determine on 
the expediency of applying to the legislature of Virginia 
for an act of separation. The delegates were chosen,* 
and the convention met on the twenty third of May, 
1785. It was composed of men of high respectability — t 
the greater part distinguished for talent and intelligence.- 
Their proceedings were characterized by dignity, mode- 
ration and unanimity, and by a strict regard to parlia- 
mentary rules and usages. They resolved, as the opin- 
ion of the convention — 

First — That a petition be presented to the assembl}', 
praying that this district may be established into a State 
separate from Virginia. 

Second— That when so established, it ought to be ta- 
ken into union with the United States of America, and 
enjoy equal privileges in common with those States. 

Third — That this convention recommend, to their con- 
stituents to elect deputies from their respective counties, 
to meet at Danville on the second Monday in August 
next, to serve in convention, and to continue, by ad- 
journment, till the first day of April next, to take fur- 
ther under their consideration, the state of the district. 

* In January, 1785, the county of Nelson was established. It made the fourth 
county of the district, and was composed of all that part of Jefferson, lying South of 
Salt river, 

"The years 1783, and 1784 — (^Imlay^s description of Kentucky, 44) — brought out 
yast numbers of emigrants from all parts of America; particularly the latter year — 
when, it was supposed, that in Kentucky alone, not less than twelve thousand souls 
l>ecaine settlers." 

"I" The following are their names : Samuel McDowell, George Muter, Benjamin Lo- 
4an, Willis Green, Harry Innis, Christopher Greenup, James Speed, Robert Todd, 
James Baird, Levi Todd, James Trotter, Ebenezer Brooks, Richard Steele, Isaac 
Morrison, James Garrard, John Edwards, Caleb Wallace, Richard Terrell, George 
Wilson, Robert Clark, Robert Johnson, Edward Payne, Isaac Cox, Richard Taylor, 
Jamai Rogers, Mathew Walton, and Messs. Morton and Kincheloe. The cbriitian 
jianiea of the latter gentlemen, my informanat did not recollect. 



119 

Fourth — That the election of delegates for the pro- 
posed convention, ought to be on the principle of equal 
representation. 

The fifth resolution referred the petition to the assem- 
bly, in conformity with the first resolution, together with 
all matters connected with the subject of their delibera- 
tions, to the next convention. 

They published an address "to the inhabitants of the 
district of Kentucky" — in which they vindicated the 
propriety of the proposed severance of the Common- 
wealth, and assigned, with great force, the causes which 
rendered such a measure indispensable to the welfare of 
the people. They stated, that in the course of their 
enquiries, they found that several laws had passed the 
legislature of Virginia, which, although of a general 
nature, were in their operation particularly oppressive 
on the people of the district — and they alleged, that 
from their local situation, they were deprived of many 
benefits of government, which every citizen had a right 
to expect — in proof of which, they appealed to facts. 

They had no power, they said, to call out the militia 
— their sure and only defence — to oppose the wicked 
machinations of the savages, unless in cases of actual 
invasion. 

They could have no executive power in the district, 
either to enforce the execution of the laws, or to grant 
pardons to objects of mercy — because such a power 
would be inconsistent with the policy of government, 
and contrary to the present constitution. 

They were ignorant of the laws that were passed, 
until a long time after they were enacted, and in many 
instances until they had expired — in consequence of 
which, penalties might be inflicted for ofliences never de- 
signed, and delinquents escaped the punishment due to 
their crimes. 



120 

They were compelled to prosecute suits in the high 
court of appeals at Richmond, under every disadvantage 
for the want of evidence, want of money, and want of 
friends. 

It was impossible, they declared, for the inhabitants 
of the district, at so remote a distance from the seat 
of government, ever to derive equal benefits with the 
citizens in the eastern parts of the State. 

They suggested that it was generally admitted, that 
the district ought, at some period, not far distant, to be 
separated from Virginia, and the only question was, 
whether they were then of sufficient ability, either to 
fill the different offices of government or provide for its 
support? In answer to the first branch of this enquiry, 
they insisted, that sound principles and plain sense would 
suffice for every laudable purpose of government; and 
they had generally found, that the liberty of the citizen 
and the laws of the land, were in the highest reverence 
at the foundation and rise of States, before the public 
morals are corrupted by wealth and licentiousness. In 
reference to their ability to support their government, 
they had then, they said, several valuable funds, and if 
they suffered them to be exhausted by delay, they 
would be stripped of every resource but that of internal 
taxation. They did not hesitate, therefore, to pro- 
nounce it as their opinion, that the present, was pre- 
ferable to any future period, for the separation to take 
place. 

These were some of the reasons that justified the 
measure they had unanimously proposed, and it will 
not be denied that they were sufficiently cogent and sat- 
isfactory. The third convention met on the eighth of 



121 

the following August.* The papers which had been re- 
ferred to them by a resolution of the preceding conven- 
tion, were now considered and discussed — and a report 
was made thereon by a committee appointed for that 
purpose. The report contained a declaration of griev- 
ances similar to those already mentioned, which was 
unanimously adopted. In lieu of the petition prepared 
by their predecessors, a fervid appeal was made to the 
patriotism and magnanimity of the parent Common- 
wealth, in the form, and with the title, of an address to 
the General Assembly. It was the production of an in- 
dividual of great distinction and influence, and a mem- 
ber of the convention from Fayette — General James 
Wilkinson. It commenced with the acknowledgement 
of the importance of the measure which had been pro- 
posed by the convention, and of the filial affection with 
which they approached the assembly. "The settlers of 
this distant region" — such was its language — "taught 
by the arranprements of Providence, and encouraged by 
the conditions of that solemn compact, for which they 
had paid the price of their blood, to look forward to a 
separation from the eastern parts of the Commonwealth, 
have viewed the subject leisurely at a distance, and ex- 
amined it with caution on its near approach. Irrecon- 
cileable as has been their situation, to a connexion with 
any community beyond the Appalachian mountains 
other than the Federal union ; manifold as have been the 
grievances flowing therefrom, which have grown with 
their growth and increased with their population, they 

• The names of the members are as follow: Samuel McDowell, George Muter, 
Christopher Irvine, William Kennedy, Benjamin Logan, Caleb Wallace, Harry In- 
nis, John Edwards, James Speed, James Wilkinson, James Garrard, Levi Todd, 
Isaac Morrison, John Coburn, James Trotter, John Craig, Robert Patterson, Richard 
Terrell, George Wilson, Benjamin Sebastian, Philip Barbour, Isaac Cox, Andrew 
Hynes, Maihew Walton, and James Rogeis. 

16 



122 

have patiently waited the hour of redress, nor even 
ventured to raise their voices in their own cause, until 
youth, quickening into manhood, hath given them vigor 
and stability." 

"It is not," it continued, "the ill directed or inconsid- 
erate zeal of a few — it is not that impatience of power, 
to which ambitious minds are prone — nor yet the baser 
consideration of personal interest, which influence the 
people of Kentucky." — "They are incapable of cherish- 
ing a wish unfounded in justice, and are now impelled 
by expanding and irremediable grievances, universally 
seen, felt and acknowledged, to obey the irresistible dic- 
tates of self preservation, and seek for happiness by 
means honorable to themselves, honorable to you, and 
injurious to neither." 

The convention, therefore, with the consent and by 
the authority of their constituents, prayed that an act 
might pass, at the ensuing assembly, declaring and ac- 
knowledging the sovereignty and independence of Ken- 
tucky. George Muter and Harry Innis, the one Chief 
Justice, the other Attorney General of the district, were 
deputed to present the address to the General Assem- 
bly, and to use their personal exertions to facilitate the 
passage of a law in conformity therewith. 

There was another subject that awakened the anxie- 
ties of the convention, and drew from them an address 
to their constituents. They had received accounts from 
Post St. Vincennes, that indicated a disposition in the 
savages for general war — and looking nearer home, they 
found their borders infested, and constant depredations 
committed on their property. "J5/oo6?," they declared, 
^^had been spilled from the eastern to the western extremity 
of the district.'^^ They called, therefore, in the name 
and behalf of the people, on the county lieutenants forth- 



123 

with to carry into operation the law for regulating and 
disciplining the militia; and recommended to the officers 
to assemble in their respective counties, and concert 
plans for the defence of the country, or for carrying ex- 
peditions against the hostile nations of Indians. 

The deputies of the convention proceeded to Rich- 
mond, in discharge of the duties assigned them. "The 
spectacle" was now exhibited "of a sovereign power, 
solely intent to bless its people, agreeing to a dismem- 
berment of its parts, in order to secure the happiness of 
the whole."* On the tenth of January, 1786, the 
General Assembly passed "an act concerning the erec- 
tion of the district of Kentucky into an independent 
State." After declaring that the partition of the Com- 
monwealth was "rendered expedient by the remoteness 
of the more fertile, which must be the more populous, 
part of the district — and by the interjacent natural im- 
pediments to a convenient and regular communication 
therewith" — it provided that a convention, to be held at 
Danville on the fourth Monday of September, should be 
elected by the free male inhabitants of the district — 
each of the seven counties to be entitled to five repre- 
sentatives. As soon as two thirds of them should as- 
semble, they were authorized to consider, and by a ma- 
jority of voices to determine, whether it was expedient 
for, and the will of, the good people of the district, that 
the same should be erected into an independent State, 
upon the terms and conditions which the act set forth : 
and if, on those terms and conditions, the convention 
approved of the separation, they should proceed to fix a 
day, subsequent to the first day of September, 1787, on 
which the authority of Virginia and of her laws, over the 

*The language of the address or the convention to the Geueral Assembly. 



124 

proposed State, should cease and determine forever — 
provided, that prior to the first day of June, 1787, the 
Congress of the United States assented to the partition, 
V released Virginia from her federal obligations arising 
from the district as a part of her territory, and admit- 
ted the proposed State into the Federal union. 

The election of delegates to the new convention was 
held in August, 1786 — but the people of the district 
had again been summoned to the field, to suppress the 
hostilities of the savages, and when the day arrived for 
the meeting of the convention, a quorum of its mem- 
bers failed to attend. To those who were in attend- 
ance, this was a perplexing circumstance. Assuming, 
however, the name of a committee of their body, they 
prepared and signed a memorial, setting forth the disap- 
pointment and the exigencies that had produced it, and 
praying the General Assembly for such an alteration of 
the terms of the act of separation, as the occasion seem- 
ed to require. The memorial was committed into the 
hands of John Marshall, Esq., then a young attorney of 
Richmond, since the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 
of the United States, and whose glory it is, to have es- 
tablished upon foundations, as durable as the pillars of 
the government, the constitutional jurisprudence of his 
country. The memorial was presented by him to the 
General Assemby, and strengthened by his friendly co- 
operation, was favorably received. In October, 1786, 
another act was passed, "making further provision for 
the erection of the district of Kentucky, into an inde- 
pendent State." The preamble recited, that it appeared 
that the representatives elected in pursuance of the first 
act, had been hindered by unforeseen events from meet- 
ing at the time proposed, and determining the question 
referred to them — that no such determination could 



125 

then tdke place within the time necessary for its receiv- 
ing the assent of Congress prior to the first of June 
next — that it continued to be the purpose of the Gen- 
eral Assembly that the district of Kentucky should be- 
come an independent State, and it was therefore enacted 
that the convention should meet in September, 1787, to 
determine, by a concurrence of two iJdrds of the whole 
number elected, upon the expediency of the separation. 
The first of January, 1789, was substituted as the day 
when the authority of Virginia was to cease over the 
district, and the assent of Congress was to be procured 
befere the fourth of July, 1788. On the seventh of 
September, 1787, the fifth convention met at Danville, 
and unanimously determined the question submitted to 
them, favorably to the separation.* They then adopted 
an address "to the honorable the Congress of the United 
States of America," in which they set forth, with great 
earnestness, their claims to independence. The numer- 
ous causes which had conspired to postpone them, had 
excited the public mind, and a fresh and absorbing topic 
— the free navigation of the Mississippi river — had, in 
the mean time, entered into their deliberations. It is 
difficult, at this day, to appreciate the feelings of jealousy 
and distrust, with which the people of the whole western 
country then regarded the possible contingency, of being 
deprived of the benefits of that great channel of their 
commerce. The inhabitants of Kentucky desired a 
separation from Virginia, but the convention assured 
Congress, that whatever might be their anxiety to eflfect 
it, in the constitutional mode prescribed by the law un- 
der which they acted, they would not consider them- 
selves in any manner answerable for the future conduct 

•See Appendix — Note S. 



126 

of their constituents, if they were unsuccessful in iheit 
application. Confiding, therefore, implicitly in the jus- 
tice and liberality of that body, they claimed, in 
conformity with the act of the General Assembly of 
Virginia, to be permitted to enjoy equal privileges 
with the other of the United States of America, and 
to be styled the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The 
deep solicitude they felt to become independent, was 
also displayed in their eagerness to hasten the consum- 
mation of that event, and in the measures they employed 
to ensure it. They resolved that a convention should be 
elected in the ensuing April, to continue in appointment 
until the thirty first of December, 1788, "with full power 
and authority to frame and establish a fundamental 
constitution of government for the proposed State, and 
to declare what laws should be in force therein, until the 
same should be abrogated or altered by the legislative 
authority acting under the constitution, so to be framed 
and established ; " and they requested their representa- 
tives in the legislature, to use their endeavors to have 
an inhabitant of the district appointed a delegate to 
Congress for the ensuing year. Accordingly, John 
Brown, Esq., was elected. He was the only member of 
that body from Kentucky, before the adoption of the 
Federal Constitution. He came to the district in 1782, 
and soon became distinguished for his talent and public 
spirit. After the new government was organized under 
that constitution, he was chosen one of the first Senators 
in Congress from Kentucky — -and no higher proof need 
be adduced of the public approbation of his services 
than the fact, that he was continued in that high office, 
by successive re-elections, until the year 1805, when 
he retired from public life.* 

♦See Appendix— Note T. 



127 

If the feelings of the inhabitants of the district were 
alive to the subject of separation, the minds of the peo- 
ple of the United States were in great agitation, respect- 
ing the important change which was about to take place 
in the aspect of their national affairs. On the seven- 
teenth of September, 1787, after very protracted delibe- 
rations, the convention of the States adopted the present 
Federal constitution, and by a contemporaneous resolu- 
tion, directed it to be laid before Congress, declaring 
their opinion "that it should be submitted to a conven- 
tion of delegates chosen in each State by the people 
thereof^ under a recommendation of its legislature for 
their assent and ratification." Congress received the 
report of the convention on the twenty eighth of Sep- 
tember, 1787, and resolved that it be transmitted to the 
legislatures of the States, in conformity to the resolves 
of the convention. It devolved upon Kentucky to take 
her part in these movements. Delegates were chosen * 
in the several counties of the district to the convention 
of Virginia, that met at Richmond in June, 1788, to sit 
in judgment on the great questions at issue between the 
parties that were formed in reference to them, and on 

* 1 am indebted to Mr. Butler — Hist. Ky., 166— for the interesting information 
tliat follows: 

"Through the courtesy of Messrs. Brown and Marshall, the author is enabled to 
present the reader with the names of the Kentucky members of the Virginia Conven- 
tion, which ratified the present Constitution of the United States. From Fayette^ 
Humphrey Marshall and John Fowler; Jefferson county, Robert Breckenridge and 
Rice Bullock; Lincoln county, John Logan and Henry Pawling; JS''elson county^ 
John Steele and Matthew Walton; Mercer county, Thomas Allen and Alexander 
Robertson; Madison county, G. Clay and William Irvine; Bourbon county, Henry 
Lee and John Edwards. The Constitution of the United States was published in the 
Kentucky Gazette, Oct- 27th 1787. The only members of the Virginia legislature 
from Keptucky, whose names the author has been able to obtain, are John Brown, 
Benjamin and John Logan, Squire Boone, Swearingen, Thomas, John and Robert 
Todd, James Harrod, William McClung, J' hn Steele, James Garrard, John Ed- 
^vards, John Jewitt, William Pope and Richard Taylor." 



128 

the twentieth of the same month, Virginia gave her 
sanction to the proposed form of government. Ten 
States had now adopted the constitution, and no doubt 
remained that the new government would go into opera- 
tion. 

On the twenty eighth of July, 1788, the sixth con- 
vention assembled at Danville, to form a constitution of 
government for the new State of Kentucky. Another 
sad disappointment awaited them. Scarcely were they 
organized, before they received intelligence that Con- 
gress had declined, for the present, to entertain their 
petition, and had referred the question of admitting Ken- 
tucky into the confederacy to the new government. The 
vexation of ihe convention and of the people was openly 
and vehemently expressed. Many gave vent to their 
feelings in terms strongly savoring of disaffection to the 
government. The offspring of excitement and chagrin, 
a proposition was even made to submit the affairs of the 
district to the people themselves, in their primary capa- 
city, and to ascertain their opinions through the medium 
of each company of militia. But the more judicious ma- 
jority discarded it as disorganizing. The convention, 
after a long and animated discussion, came to a widely 
different determination. They recommended to the peo- 
ple to elect another assembly to meet in the November 
following, and to continue in office until the first of Jan- 
uary, 1790 — "delegating to them full powers, to take 
such measures for obtaining the admission of the district 
as a separate and independent member of the United 
States of America, and the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi, as may appear most conducive to those purposes 
— to form a constitution of government, and organize the 
same when they shall judge necessary, and to do and ac-* 
complish whatsoever, on a consideration of the State of 



129 

the district, may, in their opinion, promote its inter- 
ests." It is obvious, that these measures were indic- 
ative of an unsettled and anxious state of the pubUc 
mind — but they conduced to no violent consequences. 

The third day of November, 1788, was set apart, by 
a resolution of their predecessors, for the meeting of the 
convention. On the fourth, a majority of the members 
appeared and took their seats, and the house proceeded 
to business. The resolution of Congress postponing the 
admission of Kentucky into the Union, until after the 
fourth of March, 1789, was read and referred. An ad- 
dress to Congress was reported from a committee ap- 
pointed to prepare it, of which General Wilkinson was 
the Chairman, and Mr. Innis presented another to the 
General Assembly of Virginia. In the former, the con- 
vention recounted the difficulties and dangers of the set- 
tlement of Kentucky — and asserted, in an especial man- 
ner, the claim of the western people, to the free naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi river. It was a right naturally 
and essentially annexed to the possession of the western 
country, and they called upon Congress to stretch forth 
their hands to save them. "We are a member," they 
said, "that would exert every muscle for your service. 
Do not cut us off from your bod3^ By every tie of con- 
sanguinity and affection, by the remembrance of the 
blood we have mingled in the common cause, by a re- 
gard to justice and policy, we conjure you to procure 
our right." 

In the latter, they threw themselves on the justice 
and liberality of the General Assembly, which they had 
so often experienced, solicited "the friendly interpo- 
sition of the parent State with the Congress of the 
United States, for a speedy admission of the district 
into the federal union," and prayed "them to urge that 
17 



130 

honorable body in the most express terms, to take ef- 
fectual measures for procuring to the inhabitants the 
free navigation of the Mississippi, without which, the 
situation of a large part of the community would be 
wretched and miserable." On the tenth of November 
the convention adjourned. In January, 1789, Virginia 
passed a third act for the separation of the district, con- 
taining some new conditions which created universal 
dissatisfaction. On the twentieth of July of that year, 
the convention met, and after declaring, in the most 
explicit manner, that the alteration of the terms of the 
compact was injurious and inadmissible, they resolved 
to present a memorial to the General Assembly, urging 
such a change in the terms last proposed, as would 
make them equal to those formerly offered by Virginia 
and accepted by the district of Kentucky. The Gen- 
eral Assembly of Virginia readily consented to relax 
the conditions and passed a law for that purpose. But 
the new act referred the whole subject of separation to 
another convention to be chosen in 1790. It can be no 
wonder, after such a constant succession of disappoint- 
ments, that the people should have become impatient 
and irascible. It had required almost as much time to 
consummate their anxiously desired separation from 
Virginia, as to conquer the wilderness. The period 
however approached when that event was to be consum- 
mated. On the twenty sixth of July, 1790, according 
to the direction of the act of the General Assembly last 
referred to, another convention commenced its session 
at Panville. George Muter was elected President— and 
the convention declared, by a resolution, that "it was 
expedient for, and the will of, the good people of the dis- 
trict of Kentucky, that the same be erected into an inde- 
pendent State, on the terms and conditions specified in 



131 

an act of the Virginia Assembly, passed on the eigh- 
teenth of December, 1789 :" and after the acceptance of 
those terms and conditions in a formal manner, they 
resolved "that on the first day of June, 1792, the said 
district shall become a State separate from, and inde- 
pendent of, the government of Virginia, and the articles 
of separation a solemn compact binding on the people 
of Kentucky." Alexander Scott Bullitt, Esq., reported 
from a committee selected lor the purpose, an address to 
the General Assembly of Virginia, announcing the ac- 
ceptance of the conditions of the law, and soliciting the 
co-operation of her representatives in Congress in the 
effort to obtain the admission of Kentucky into the 
Union. A memorial addressed to the President of the 
United States was also reported, by James M. Mar- 
shallj Esq., acknowledging the attachment ofthecon- 
Tention to the federal jrovernment — declarinfj the causes 
and motives which had led to the proposed separation 
from the parent Commonwealth — asserting the compe- 
tency of Kentucky for self government — and soliciting 
the passage of an act of Congress for her admission into 
the confederacy, within the time limited by the act of 
Virginia, and in conformity with the Constitution of the 
United States. The address and memorial having been 
adopted by the convention, they proceeded finally to de- 
clare, that in the month of December, 1791, on the re- 
spective court days of the counties of the district, and 
at the respective places of holding courts therein, repre- 
sentatives, to continue in office for seven months, should 
be elected by the free male inhabitants of each county 
above the age of twenty one years — each county to 
be entitled to five representatives, making the whole 
number forty five — that they should compose a conven- 
tion, to be held in Danville on the first monday of April, 



132 

1792 J to frame and establish a constitution or form of 
government, and also to determine what laws should re- 
main in force until altered or abrogated by the legisla- 
tive authority, acting under the constitution so to be 
framed or established. 

In his speech to both houses of Congress, on the 
eighth of December, 1790, President Washington said — 
"since your last sessions, I have received communica- 
tions by which it appears, that the district of Kentucky, 
at present a part of Virginia, has concurred in certain 
propositions contained in a law of that State, in conse- 
quence of which, the district is to become a distinct 
member of the Union, in case the requisite sanction 
of Congress is added. For this sanction application 
is now made. I shall cause the papers on this very 
important transaction to be laid before you. The lib- 
erality and harmony with which it has been conducted, 
will be found to do great honor to both the parties ; and 
the sentiments of warm attachment to the union and its 
present government, expressed by our fellow citizens of 
Kentucky, cannot fail to add an affectionate concern for 
their particular welfare to the great national impres- 
sions under which you will decide on the case submitted 
to you." The House of Representatives replied: "We 
shall bestow on this important subject the favorable 
consideration which it merits; and with the national 
policy which ought to govern our decision, shall not fail 
to mingle the affectionate sentiments which are awa- 
kened, by those expressed in behalf of our fellow citizens 
of Kentucky. And the Senate "assured him of their 
disposition to concur, in giving the requisite sanction to 
the admission of Kentucky, as a distinct member of the 
Union," "anticipating the happy effects to be expected 
from the sentiments of attachment toward the Union 



133 

and its present government, which have been expressed 
by the patriotic inhabitants of that district." 

On the fourth day of February, 179J, Congress enact- 
ed and declared, "that on the first day of June, 1792, a 
new State, by tlie name and style of the State of Ken- 
tucky, shall be received and admitted into this Union, 
as a new and entire member of the United States of 
America." 

Nothing now remained but the action of Kentucky 
herself, in order to bring to a close her long and arduous 
struggles to obtain independence. On the first Monday 
of April, 1792, the convention assembled at Danville to 
frame the constitution, and elected Col. Samuel Mc- 
Dowell, to preside over their deliberations, and Thomas 
Todd their Clerk. It was a grave and dignified assembly, 
composed of some of the best materials of the district — 
abounding as it did in talent, integrity and patriotism. 
George Nicholas was its brightest luminary. If he was 
not a transcendant orator according to the Demosthe- 
nian process of resolving elequence into action alone, 
his powers of argumentation were of the highest order, 
and his knowledge of the laws and institutions of his 
country, placed him in the first rank of the distinguish- 
ed men, by whose wisdom and patriotism they were es- 
tablished. He had acquired eminence in his profession 
before he left Virginia. A member of the convention 
that ratified the Constitution of the United States, he 
was the associate of Madison, of Randolph and of Henry, 
and he came to Kentucky in the fullness of his fame, and 
in the maturity of his intellectual strength. One of 
his colleagues, from the county of Mercer, was the Rev. 
David Rice, a minister of the Presbyterian church. 
Having received his education under the care of the 
Rev. Samuel Daveis,^ a most learned and eloquent pulpit 



134 

orator of his day, he emigrated to Kentucky in 1783, 
in order to devote himself to the ministry. He sought 
a place in the convention, in the hope of being able to 
infuse into its deliberations a zeal for the gradual extir- 
pation of slavery in Kentucky, for which purpose he wrote 
and published a tract, entitled, "Slavery inconsistent 
with justice and good policy," containing his views at 
large upon that interesting subject. His learning, his 
piety, his grave and venerable deportment, and his high 
rank in the church to which he belonged, gave to his 
opinions deserved influence, and he supported them in 
debate with considerable ability. There were several 
other men of great worth and distinction, whom it is 
necessary barely to mention. These were Isaac Shelby, 
Col. Benjamin Logan, James Garrard, afterwards Gov- 
ernor of the Commonwealth, John Edwards, one of her 
first Senators in Congress, Alexander S. Bullitt and 
Robert Breckinridge, the one the first Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor, and the other, the first Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, Caleb Wallace, who became a Judge 
of the Supreme Court, Samuel McDowell the President 
of the convention, and others of less distinction who had 
been selected for their sound, practical views of public 
policy.^ 

* MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION OF 1792. 

Favelle county — Hubbard Taylor, Thomas Lewis, George S, Smith, Robert Fryer, 
James Crawford. 

Jefferson county — Richard Taylor, John Campbell, Alexander S. Bullitt, Benja- 
min Sebastian, Robert Brecken ridge. 

Bourbon county — John Edwards, James Garrard, James Smith, John McKinney, 
Benjamin Harrison. 

J{elson county — William King, Mathew Walton, Cuthbert Harrison, Joseph Hobbs, 
Andrew Hyiies. 

Madison county — Charles Cavender, Higgerson Grubbs, Thomas Clay, Thomas 
Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy. 

Mercer county — Samuel Taylor, Jacob Froman, George Nicholas, David Rice^ 
Samuel McDowell. 



135 

The journal of the proceedings of the convention has 
probably perished. I have been unable, after diligent 
enquiry, to ascertain its fate. On the nineteeeth of April 
they closed their labors, and on the first of June follow- 
ing, the district of Kentucky was an independent State. 

The constitution of 1792, having been superseded by 
that of 1799, is now no farther a subject of interest than 
as it may cast light upon the policy of the men who 
framed it, and I shall do no more than glance at some 
of its prominent provisions. Following the precedent 
furnished by the Constitution of the United States, the 
powers of government were divided into three distinct 
departments. The legislative power was vested in a 
General Assembly to consist of a Senate and House of 
Representatives. The representatives were elected an- 
nually by the qualified electors of each county. The 
Senate was differently chosen. The electors qualified 
to vote for representatives, were to choose at the desig- 
nated places of election, as many persons as they were 
entitled to have for representatives for their respective 
counties, and those persons were to constitute the elec- 
tors of the Senate. They were required to assemble at 
the place appointed for convening the General Assembly, 
and "proceed to choose, by ballot, as Senators, men of 
the most wisdom^ experience ajid virtue^ above the age of 
twenty seven years of age, and residents in the State 
two whole years next preceding the election." "iVd 
minister of religious societies^ member of Congress, or 
other person, holding any office of profit under the Uni- 

Lincoln county — Benjamin Logan, John Bailey, Isaac Shelby, Benedict Sivope, 
William Montgomery. 

Woodford county — John Walkins, Richard Young, William Steele, Caleb Wal- 
lace, Robert Johnson. 

Mason county— George LewiSjMiles W.Conway, Thomas Waring, Robert Rankib, 
John Wilson. 



136 

ted States or this Commonwealth, except attornies at 
law, justices of the peace, mihtia officers and coroners, 
could be a member of either house during his continu- 
ance to act as minister, in Congress or in office." 

The supreme executive power was vested in a Gov- 
ernor — to be chosen for four years hy the electors of the 
Senate^ at the same time and place, and in the same 
manner that the Senators were elected. 

All free male citizens of the age of twenty one years, 
having resided in the State two years, or in the county 
in which they offered to vote one year next before the 
election, were permitted "to enjoy the rights of an elec- 
tor" — and all elections were required to be hy ballot. 

The judicial power, both as to matters of law and 
equity, was vested in one supreme court, and in such 
inferior courts as the legislature might, from time to 
time, ordain and establish. To the supreme court was 
given original and final jurisdiction, in all cases respect- 
ing the titles to land under the then land laws of Vir- 
ginia, and in all cases concerning contracts for land prior 
to the establishing of those titles. In all other cases it 
was allowed appellate jurisdiction only — with such ex- 
ceptions and under such regulations as the legislature 
should make, for the due administration of justice. 

Sheriffs and coroners were to be chosen by the citi- 
zens of each county qualified to vote for representatives, 
and to hold their offices for three years. 

All laws in force in Virginia, of a general nature, and 
not local to the eastern part of that State, were declared 
to be in force in Kentucky, until they were altered or 
repealed by the legislature : and the compact with Vir- 
ginia was adopted as a component part of the constitu- 
tion. 

I omit the provisions defining and regulating the pow- 



137 

ers of the departments, as well as the declaration of 
rights. There is little to distinguish them from the 
usual forms of the American constitutions. But it is due 
to the statesmen of 1792, that their views upon the 
great question, which at the period of the establishment 
of the federal government, received a large share of the 
public attention, and agitated the councils of the nation- 
al convention in 1787, should not be overlooked in a 
historical review of their proceedings. Slavery, it is 
well known, was a part of the political institutions of 
Kentucky, when she became a county, and then a dis- 
trict of Virginia. There were those in the convention, 
who were its avowed and earnest opponents, and favored 
a well regulated system of gradual emancipation. But 
while the institution of slavery was retained, probably 
as a deformity which it was better to bear than attempt 
to eradicate, several provisions were incorporated into 
the constitution having a direct reference to the prohibi- 
tion of the traffick in human flesh. After the conven- 
tion had determined that the toleration of slavery should 
be admitted by the constitution, it was properly incum- 
bent on them to protect the tenure by which property 
in slaves was held, with the necessary guards against 
legislative encroachment. The General Assembly, 
therefore, were deprived of the "power to pass laws for 
the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their 
owners, or without paying their owners, previous to 
such emancipation, a full equivalent in money." 

They were deprived also of the power to "prevent 
emigrants to this State, from bringing with them such 
persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of 
the United States, so long as any person of the same 
age or description shall be continued in slavery by the 

laws of this State." But the constitution required im- 
18 



138 

peratively, that laws should be passed to permit owners 
of slaves to emancipate them — and it then declared 
that the legislature "shall have full power to prevent 
slaves beinff brought into this State as merchandize" — 
••'to prevent any slave being brought into this State from 
a foreign country, and to prevent those from being brought 
into this State who have been, since the first day of January^ 
1789j or may hereafter be, imported iiito any of the United 
States from a foreign countrj/.^^ I should fail to do jus- 
tice to the authors of these provisions, if I neglected to 
add, that "full power" was likewise granted to the Gen- 
eral Assembly "to pass such laws as may be necessary, 
to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with human- 
ity, to provide for them necessary clothing and provi- 
sions, to abstain from all injuries to them extending to 
life or limb, and in case of their neglect or refusal to 
comply with the direction of such laws, to have such 
slave or slaves sold for the benefit of the owner or ow- 
ners." 

On the fourth day of June, 1792, the first General 
Assembly met at Lexington. Isaac Shelby, the Gov- 
ernor elect, presented himself before them in person, and 
delivered his inaugural address. James Brown, the late 
distinguished representative of the United States at the 
court of France, was appointed Secretary of State, 
George Nicholas Attorney General, and George Muter, 
Benjamin Sebastian and Caleb Wallace, judges of the 
court of Appeals. 

The government was now organized, and Kentucky 
assumed her position in the confederacy of American 
States. 

Seventy years have elapsed since Finley and his 
adventurous companions first penetrated the dark and 
bloody ground. If, from the eminence on which w« 



139 

stand, we take a retrospect of the wonderful career of 
the pioneers, we cannot fail to be suitably impressed 
with the constancy and heroism with which, for nearly 
a quarter of a century, they met and withstood the in- 
numerable perils and difficulties of their situation : and 
if we compare with theirs the present condition of their 
descendants, we are at a loss how to fix an adequate 
value upon their labors to the cause of human happiness. 
Within the narrow limits of the hfe of man, a wil- 
derness has been transformed into cultivated fields, 
and a great Commonwealth has sprung up, containing a 
population of more than seven hundred thousand souls — 
rich in the productions of industry and art — abounding 
in the comforts of civilized life — adorned by ^the refine- 
ments of society, and flourishing under the auspices of 
wise and benignant political institutions. The hordes 
of savages that inhabited the extensive region stretching 
from the western boundary of Pennsylvania to the Missis- 
sippi river, have disappeared, and have been succeeded 
by other political communities, the luxuriance of whose 
growth is still more extraordinary. Less than forty 
years ago, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with their mil- 
lions of inhabitants and their twenty nine representa- 
tives in the national councils, were territorial depend- 
ents on the federal government. If we are permitted 
to derive conclusions from the events of our past his- 
tory, we may form some conceptions, inadequate 
though they may be, of what, with the blessing of God 
upon us, the future is to accomplish, in giving extension 
to the numbers, addition to the strength, wisdom and 
power to the intellect, glory to the career, of this vast em- 
pire of freemen in the west. The men to whom, above all 
others, we are indebted for these inappreciable benefits, 
are the pioneers of Kentucky. They have passed away, 



140 

but their services will not be forgotten. If, in the per- 
formance of the part which has been allotted to me on 
this interesting occasion, I have succeeded in illustrat- 
ing their claims upon the gratitude of their country, I 
shall be abundantly rewarded for the labor of the effort 
I have made. The reward will be inconceivably 
heightened, if, before the close of this anniversary, the 
descendants of the pioneers should solemnly resolve to 
construct, upon the spot where Kentucky began to be, 

A MONUMENT TO THEIU MEMORY. 



\ 



APPENDIX. 



Note A. — page 14. 



I. 



The following incident has been communicated to me by Or- 
lando Brown, Esq., to whom it was related by his deceased uncle. 
Dr. Samuel Brown : 

"An old lady who had been in the forts, was describing to Dr. 
Brown the scenes she had witnessed in those times of peril and 
adventure: and, among other things, remarked, that during the 
first two years of her residence in Kentucky, the most comely 
sight she beheld, was seeing a young man dying in his bed a na- 
tural death. She had been familiar with blood and carnage and 
death, but in all those cases the sufferers were the victims of the 
Indian tomahawk and scalping knife; and that, on an occasion 
when a young man was taken sick and died, after the usual man- 
ner of nature, she and the rest of the women sat up all night, 
gazing upon him as an object of beauty." 

II. 

My friend, Capt. Samuel Daviess, of Harrodsburgh, has fur- 
nished me with the interesting details that follow: 

There is an incident in the early settlement of Kentucky which 
has not been heretofore noticed. In the fall of the year 1779,- 
Samuel Daviess, who resided in Bedford county, Virginia, moved 
with his family to Kentucky, and lived for a time, at Whitley's 
station in Lincoln. After residing for some time in the station, he 
removed with his family to a place called Gilmer's Lick, some 
six or seven miles distant from said station, where he built a 
cabin, cleared some land, which he put in corn next season, not 
apprehending any danger from the Indians, although he was con- 



144 

sidered a frontier settler. But this imaginary state of security- 
did not last long; for on a morning in the month of August, in 
the year 1782, having stepped a few paces from his door, he was 
suddenly surprised by an Indian's appearing between him and 
the door, with tomahawk uplifted, almost within striking dis- 
tance. In this unexpected condition, and being entirely unarmed, 
his first thought was, that by running around the house, he could 
enter the door in safety, but to his surprise, in attempting to 
effect this object, as he approached the door he found the house 
full of Indians. Being closely pursued by the Indian first men- 
tioned, he made his way into the corn field, where he concealed 
himself, with much difficulty, until the pursuing Indian had re- 
turned to the house. 

Unable as he was to render any relief to his family (there being 
five Indians) he ran with the utmost speed to the station of his 
brother James Daviess — a distance of five miles. As he ap- 
proached the station — his undressed condition told the tale of 
his distresses, before he was able to tell it himself. Almost 
breathless, and with a faltering voice, he could only say, his 
wife and children were in the hands of the Indians. Scarcely was 
the communication made when he obtained a spare gun, and the 
five men in the station, well armed, followed him to his residence. 
When they arrived at the house, the Indians, as well as the fam- 
ily, were found to be gone, and no evidence appeared that any of 
the family had been killed. A search was made to find the direc- 
tion the Indians had taken; but owing to the dryness of the 
ground, and the adroit manner in which they had departed, no 
discovery could be made. In this state of perplexity, the party 
being all good woodsmen, took that direction in pursuit of the 
Indians, which they thought it most probable, they would take. 
After going a few miles, their attention was arrested by the howl- 
ing of a dog, which afterwards turned out to be a house-dog that 
had followed the family, and which the Indians had undertaken 
to kill, so as to avoid detection, which might happen from his 
occasionally barking. In attempting to kill the dog, he was only 
wounded, which produced the howling that was heard. The 
noise thus heard, satisfied them that they were near the Indians, 
and enabled them to rush forward with the utmost impetuosity. 
Two of the Indians being in the rear as spies, discovering the ap- 
proach of the party, ran forward where the other Indians were 
with the family — one of them knocked down the oldest bcJy, 
about eleven years old, and while in the act of scalping him, was 
fired at, but without effect. Mrs. Daviess, seeing the agitation 
and alarm of the Indians, saved herself and sucking child, by 
jumping into a sink hole. The Indians did not stand to make 
fight, but fled in the most precipitate manner. In that way the 
family was rescued by nine o'clock in the morning, without the 



145 

loss of a single life, and without any injury but that above men- 
tioned. So soon as the boy had risen on his feet, the first word he 
spoke was, " curse that Indian, he has got my scalp" After the 
family had been rescued, Mrs. Daviess gave the following account 
of the manner in which the Indians had acted. A few minutes 
after her husband had opened the door and stepped out of the 
house, four Indians rushed in, whilst the fifth, as she afterwards 
found out, was in pursuit of her husband. Herself and children 
were in bed while the Indians entered the house. One of the 
Indians immediately made signs, by which §he understood him to 
inquire how far it was to the next house. With an unusual pre- 
sence of mind, knowing how important it would be to make the 
distance as far as possible, she raised both her hands, first counting 
the fingers of one hand then of the other — making a distance of 
eight miles. The Indian then signed to her, that she must rise: 
she immediately got up, and as soon as she could dress herself, 
commenced showing the Indians, one article of clothing and then 
another, which pleased them very much : and in that way, de- 
layed them at the house nearly two hours. In the mean time, 
the Indian who had been in pursuit of her husband, returned with 
his hands stained with poke berries, which he held up, and with 
some violent gestures, and waiving of his tomahawk, attempted 
to induce the belief, that the stain on his hands was the blood of 
her husband, and that he had killed him. She was enabled at 
once to discover the deception, and instead of producing any 
alarm on her part, she was satisfied that her husband had escaped 
uninjured. 

After the savages had plundered the house of every thing that 
they could conveniently carry off with them, they started, taking 
Mrs. Daviess and her children — seven in number, as prisoners, 
along with them. Some of the children were too young to travel 
as fast as the Indians wished, and discovering, as she believed, 
their intention to kill such of them as could not conveniently travel, 
she made the two oldest boys carry them on their backs. The 
Indians, in starting from the house, were very careful, to leave 
no signs of the direction they had taken, not even permitting the 
children to break a twig or weed, as they passed along. They had 
not gone far, before an Indian drew his knife and cut off a few 
inches of Mrs. Daviess' dress, so that she would not be interrupt- 
ed in travelling. 

Mrs. Daviess was a woman of cool deliberate courage, and 
accustomed to handle the gun so that she could shoot well, as 
many of the women were in the habit of doing in those days. 
She had contemplated, as a last resort, that if not rescued in the 
course of the day, when night came and the Indians had fallen 
asleep, she would deliver herself and children by killing as many 
of the Indians as she could — thinking that in a night attack as 
19 



146 

many of them as remained, would most probably run off. Such 
an attempt would now seem a species of madness; but to those 
who were acquainted with Mrs. Daviess, little doubt was enter- 
tained, that if the attempt had been made, it would have proved 
successful. 

The boy who had been scalped, was greatly disfigured, as the 
hair never after grew upon that part of his head. He often 
wished for an opportunity to avenge himself upon the Indians for 
the injury he had received. Unfortunately for himself, ten years 
afterwards, the Indians came to the neighborhood of his father 
and stole a number of horses. Himself and a party of men went 
in pursuit of them, and after following them for some days, the 
Indians finding that they were likely to be overtaken, placed 
themselves in ambush, and when their pursuers came up, killed 
young Daviess and one other man; so that he ultimately fell 
into their hands when about twenty one years old. 

The next year after the father died; his death being caused, as 
it was supposed, by the extraordinary efforts he made to release 
his family from the Indians. 

I cannot close this account, without noticing an act of courage 
displayed by Mrs. Daviess, calculated to exhibit her character in 
its true point of view. 

Kentucky, in its early days, like most new countries, was oc- 
casionally troubled by men of abandoned character, who lived by 
stealing the property of others, and after committing their depre- 
dations, retired to their hiding places, thereby eluding the opera- 
tion of the law. One of these marauders, a man of desperate 
character, who had committed extensive thefts from Mr. Daviess 
as well as from his neighbors, was pursued by Daviess and a party 
whose property he had taken, in order to bring him to justice. 
While the party were in pursuit, the suspected individual, not 
knowing any one was pursuing him, came to the house of Da- 
viess, armed with his gun and tomahawk — no person being at 
home but Mrs. Daviess and her children. After he had stepped 
in the house, Mrs. Daviess asked him if he would drink some- 
thing — and having set a bottle of whiskey upon the table, re- 
quested him to help himself. The fellow not suspecting any danger 
set his gun up by the door, and while drinking, Mrs. Daviess 
picked up his gun, and placing herself in the door, had the gun 
cocked and levelled upon him by the time he turned around and 
in a peremptory manner ordered him to take a seat, or she would 
shoot him. Struck with terror and alarm, he asked what he had 
done. She told him, he had stolen her husband's property, and 
that she intended to take care of him herself. In that condition, 
she held him a prisoner, until the party of men returned and took 
him into their possession. 



147 

III. 

Letter from Nathaniel Hart, Sr., Esq., of Woodford. 

Spring Hill, .... 1840. 
Dear Sir: 

Connected with your address delivered at the celebration 
of the first settlement of Kentucky at Boonesborongh, the circum- 
stances attending the escape and defence of Mrs. Woods about 
the year 1784 or '5, near the Crab Orchard, in Lincoln county, 
may not be without interest. I have a distinct recollection of 
them. Mr. Woods, her husband, was absent from home, and 
early in the morning, being a short distance from her cabin, she 
discovered several Indians advancing towards it. She reached it 
before all but one, who was so far ahead of the others, that before 
she could close and fasten the door, he entered. Instantly he 
was seized by a lame negro man of the family, and after a short 
scuffle, they both fell — the negro underneath. But he held the 
Indian so fast, that he was unable to use either his scalping knife 
or tomahawk, when he called upon his young mistress to take the 
axe from under the bed, and dispatch him by a blow upon the 
head. She immediately attempted it: but the first attempt was 
a failure. She repeated the blow and killed him. The other In- 
dians were at the door endeavoring to force it open with their 
tomahawks. The negro rose, and proposed to Mrs. Woods to 
let in another, and they would soon dispose of the whole of them 
in the same way. The cabin was but a short distance from a 
station, the occupants of which, having discovered the perilous 
situation of the family, fired on the Indians, and killed another, 
when the remainder made their escape. 

This incident is not more extraordinary than one that hap- 
pened, in the fall or winter of 1781-'2, to some families belonging 
to our own fort at the White Oak Spring, My father settled this 
fort in 1779. It was situated about a mile above Boonesborongh 
and in the same bottom of the river. It was composed princi- 
pally of families from York county, Pennsylvania — orderly, re- 
spectable people, and the men good soldiers. But they were un- 
accustomed to Indian warfare, and the consequence was, that of 
some ten or twelve men, all were killed but two or three. Du- 
ring this period, Peter Duree, the elder, the principal man of the 
connexion, determined to settle a new fort between Estill's sta- 
tion and the mouth of Muddy creek, directly on the trace be- 
tween the Cherokee and Shawanese towns. Having erected a 
cabin, his son-in-law John Bullock and his family, and his son 
Peter Duree, his wife, and two children removed to it, taking a 
pair of hand mill stones with them. They remained for two op 
thi'ee days shut up iu their cabin, but their corn meal being 63?- 



148 

hausted, they were compelled to venture out, to cut a hollow 
tree in order to adjust their hand mill. They were attacked by 
Indians — Bullock, after running a short distance, fell. Duree 
reached the cabin, and threw himself upon the bed. Mrs. Bul- 
lock ran to the door to ascertain the fate of her husband — receiv- 
ed a shot in the breast, and fell across the door sill. Mrs. Duree, 
not knowing whether her husband had been shot or had fainted, 
caught her by the feet, pulled her into the house and barred the 
door. She grasped a rifle and told her husband, she would help 
him to fight. He replied that he had been wounded and was 
dying. She then presented the gun through several port holes 
in quick succession — then calmly sat by her husband and closed 
his eyes in death. You would conclude that the scene ought to 
end here — but after wailing several hours, and seeing nothing 
more of the Indians, she sallied out in desperation to make her 
way to the White Oak Spring, with her infant in her arms, and 
a son, three or four years of age, following her. Afraid to pursue 
the trace, she entered the woods, and after running till she was 
nearly exhausted, she came at length to the trace. She deter- 
mined to follow it at all hazards, and having advanced a few 
miles further, she met the elder Mr. Duree, with his wife and 
youngest son, with their baggage, on their way to the new sta- 
tion. The melancholy tidings induced them, of course, to return. 
They led their horses into an adjoining canebrake, unloaded them, 
and regained the White Oak Spring fort before daylight. 

It is impossible at this day to make a just impression of the 
sufTerings of the pioneers about the period spoken of. The White 
Oak Spring fort in 1782, with perhaps one hundred souls in it, 
was reduced in August to three fighting white men — and I can 
say with truth, that for two or three weeks, my mother's family 
never unclothed themselves to sleep, nor were all of them, within 
the time, at their meals together, nor was any household business 
attempted. Food was prepared, and placed where those who 
chose could eat. It was the period when Bryant's station was 
besieged, and for many days before and after that gloomy event, 
we were in constant expectation of being made prisoners. We 
mad© application to Col. Logan for a guard, and obtained one, 
but not until the danger was measureably over. It then consisted 
of two men only. Col. Logan did every thing in his power, as 
county Lieutenant, to sustain the different forts — but it was not a 
very easy matter to order a married man from a fort where his 
family was, to defend some other — when his own was in imminent 
danger. 

I went with my mother in January, 1783, to Logan's station to 
prove my father's will. He had fallen in the preceding July. 
Twenty armed men were of the party. Twenty three widows 
were in attendance upon the court, to obtain letters of adminis- 



149 

tration on the estates of their husbands who had been killed du- 
ring the past year. My mother went to Col. Logan's, who re- 
ceived and treated her like a sister. 

I have drawn these statements in haste, without time to correct 
them, and am, with esteem, &c. 

NATHANIEL HART. 
James T. Morehead, Esq. 



Note B. — page 23. 

Lest it may be supposed that the picture of Kentucky, given 
by the pioneer in the narrative from which I have quoted, is over- 
drawn, I offer in its support the descriptions written and published 
about the same period, by Imlay and Filson. 

Capt. Imlay was "an officer in the American army during the 
war" of the revolution, as he informs us, and "a commissioner 
for laying out lands in the back settlements." His book, entitled 
"A topographical description of the western territory of North 
America," "in a series of letters to a friend in England," was 
published in New York in 1793. He was "an early witness to 
the settlement of Kentucky," and perhaps a participant of the 
hardships through which the early settlers had to pass. He thus 
describes the country, as it was presented to his view in the 
spring season of the year. 

"Every thing here assumes a dignity and splendor I have never 
seen in any other part of the world. 

You ascend a considerable distance from the shore of the Ohio, 
and when you would suppose you had arrived at the summit of a 
mountain, you find yourself upon an extensive level. Here an 
eternal verdure reigns, and the brilliant sun of latitude 39 deg., 
piercing through the azure heavens, produces in this prolific soil 
an early maturity which is truly astonishing. 

Flowers full and perfect, as if they had been cultivated by the 
hand of a florist, with all their captivating odours, and with all 
the variegated charms which color and nature can produce, here, 
in the lap of elegance and beauty, decorate the smiling groves. 
Soft zephyrs gently breathe on sweets, and the inhaled air gives 
a voluptuous glow of health and vigor, that seems to ravish the 
intoxicated senses. The sweet songsters of the forest appear to 
feel the influence of the genial clime, and in more soft and 
modulated tones warble their tender notes in unison with love 



150 

and nature. Everything here gives delight ; and, in that mild 
effulgence which beams around us, we feel a glow of gratitude 
for the elevation which our all bountiful Creator has bestowed 
upon us. 

Far from being disgusted with man for his turpitude or de- 
pravity, we feel that dignity which nature bestowed upon us at 
the creation — but which has been contaminated by the base alloy 
of meanness, the concomitant of European education, and what 
is more lamentable is, that it is the consequence of your very 
laws and governments. 

You must forgive what I know you will call a rhapsody, but 
what I really experienced after travelling across the Alleghany 
mountains in March, when it was covered with snow, and after 
finding the country about Pittsburgh bare, and not recovered 
from the ravages of winter. There was scarcely a blade of grass 
to be seen, every thing looked dreary and bore those marks of 
melancholy which the rude hand of frost produces. I embarked 
immediately for Kentucky, and in less than five days landed at 
Limestone, where I found nature robed in all her charms." 

In Filson's "Discovery, Settlement and present State of Ken- 
tucky," published as a supplement to "Imlay's Description," and 
written in 1784, a no less glowing account is given. "The coun- 
try," says Mr. F. (page 15) "is in some paits nearly level: in 
others not so much so; in others again hilly, but moderately — 
and in such places there is most water. The levels are not like 
a carpet, but interspersed with small risings and declivities, which 
form a beautiful prospect." "The soil" (page 22) "is of a loose, 
deep, black mould, without sand, in the first rate lands about two 
or three feet deep, and exceedingly luxuriant in all its produc- 
tions," "The country in general may be considered as well 
timbered, producing large trees of many kinds, and to be exceed- 
ed by no country in variety. Those which are peculiar to Ken- 
tucky are the sugar tree, which grows in all parts and furnishes 
every family with great plenty of excellent sugar. The honey- 
locust is curiously surrounded with large thorny spikes bearing 
broad and long pods in the form of peas, has a sweet taste, and 
makes excellent beer. The coffee tree greatly resembles the 
black oak, grows large, and also bears a pod, in which is enclosed 
coffee. The papwa (pawpaw) tree does not grow to a great size, 
Is a soft wood, bears a fine fruit, much like a cucumber in shape 
and size, and tastes sweet." He proceeds to mention the cucumber 
tree, the black mulberry, the wild cherry, and the buck-eye — 



151 

and "some other kinds of trees not common elsewhere." He 
then speaks of the "fine cane, on which the cattle feed and grow 
fat. This plant in general grows from three to twelve feet high, 
of a hard substance, with joints at eight or ten inches distance 
along the stalk, from which proceed leaves resembling those of 
the willow. There are many canebrakes so thick and tall, that 
it is difficult to pass through them. Where no cane grows there 
is an abundance of wild rye, clover and buffalo grass, covering 
vast tracts of country and affording excellent food for cattle. The 
fields are covered with abundance of wild herbage not common 
to other countries. Here are seen the finest crown-imperial in 
the world, the cardinal flower, so much extolled for its scarlet 
color, and all the year, excepting the winter months, the plains 
and valleys are adorned with a variety of flowers of the most 
admirable beauty. Here is also found the tulip-bearing laurel- 
tree, or magnolia, which has an extensive smell, and continues to 
blossom and seed for several months together." "The reader,'* 
he concludes, "by casting his eye upon the map, and viewing 
round the heads of Licking from the Ohio, and round the heads 
of Kentucky, Dick's river, and down Green river to the Ohio, 
may view in that great compass of above one hundred miles 
square, the most extraordinary country on which the sun has 
ever shone." 



Note C— page 28. 

Letter from Col. Floyd to Col. Preston^ dated 

BooNESBOROuGH, July 21, 1776. 
My Dear Sir : 

The situation of our country is much altered since I wrote 
you last. The Indians seem determined to break up our settle- 
ment: and I really doubt, unless it is possible to give us some as- 
sistance, that the greater part of the people may fall a prey to 
them. They have, I am satisfied, killed several whom, at this 
time, I know not how to mention. Many are missing, who some 
time ago went out about their business, of whom we can hear 
nothing, fresh sign of Indians is seen almost every day. I 
think I mentioned to you before, some damage they had done at 
Lee's town. On the seventh of this month, they killed one Coop- 



152 

er on Licking creek, and on the fourteenth, a man whose name I 
know not, at your salt spring on the same creek. 

On the same day they took out of a canoe within sight of this 
place. Miss Betsey Callaway, her sister Frances, and a daughter 
of Daniel Boone — the two last about thirteen or fourteen years 
old, and the other grown. The affair happened late in the after- 
noon. They left the canoe on the opposite side of the river from 
us, which prevented our getting over for some time to pursue them. 
We could not that night follow more than five miles. Next mor- 
ning by daylight, we were on their track; but they had entirely 
prevented our following them, by walking some distance apart 
through the thickest cane they could find. We observed their 
course, and on which side we had left their sign — and travelled 
upwards of thirty miles. We then supposed they would be less 
cautious in travelling, and making a turn in order to cross their 
trace, we had gone but a few miles when we found their tracks 
in a buffalo path — pursued and overtook them in going about ten 
miles, just as they were kindling a fire to cook. Our study had 
been how to get the prisoners, without giving the Indians time^to 
xnurder them after they discovered us. We saw each other 
nearly at the same time. Four of us fired, and all rushed on 
them, by which they were prevented from carrying any thing 
away except one shotgun without any ammunition. Mr. Boone 
and myself had each a pretty fair shot, as they began to move oflT. 
I am well convinced I shot one through the body. The one he 
shot dropped his gun — mine had none. The place was covered 
with thick cane, and being so much elated on recovering the 
three poor little heart-broken girls, we were prevented from mak- 
ing any further search. We sent the Indians oflT almost naked — 
some without their moccasins, and none of them with so much as 
a knife or tomahawk. After the girls came to themselves suffi- 
ciently to speak, they told us there were only five Indians — four 
Shawanese and one Cherokee. They could speak good English, 
and said they should then go to the Shawanese towns. The war 
club we got was like those I have seen of that nation. Several 
words of their language, which the girls retained, were known to 
be Shawanese. They also told them that the Cherokees had 
killed or driven all the people from Wataga and thereabout, and 
that fourteen Cherokees were then on the Kentucky waiting to 
do mischief If the war becomes general, of which there is the 
greatest appearance, our situation is truly alarming. We are 
about finishing a large fort, and intend to keep possession of this 
place as long as possible. They are, I understand, doing the 
same thing at Harrodsburgh, and also on Elkhorn, at the Royal 
spring. The settlement on Licking creek, known by the name of 
Hinkston's, has been broken up; nineteen of the settlers are now 
here on their way in — Hinkston among the rest. They all seem 



153 

deaf to any thing we can say to dissuade them. Ten at least, of 
our own people, are going to join them, which will leave us with 
less than thirty men at this fort. I think more than three hund- 
red men have left the country since I came out, and not one has 
arrived, except a few cabincrs down the Ohio. 

I want to return as much as any person can do: but if I leave 
the country now, there is scarcely one single man who will not 
follow the example. When I think of the deplorable condition 
a few helpless families are likely to be in, I conclude to sell my 
life as dearly as I can in their defence, rather than make an 
ignominious escape. 

I am afraid it is in vain to sue for any relief from Virginia; yet 
the convention encouraged the settlement of this country, and 
why should not the extreme parts of Fincastle be as justly enti- 
tled to protection as any other part of the country. If an expe- 
dition were carried on against those nations who are at open 
war with the people in general, we might be in a great measure 
relieved, by drawing them off to defend their towns. If any 
thing under Heaven can be done for us, I know of no person who 
would more willingly engage in forwarding us assistance than 
yourself. I do, at the request and in behalf of all the distressed 
women and children and othjr inhabitants of this place, implore 
the aid of every leading man who may have it in his power to 
give us relief. 

I cannot write. You can better guess at my ideas from what 
I have said than I can express them, 
lam, dear sir. 

Yours most affectionately, 

to my last moments, 

J. FLOYD. 



Note E. — page 48. 

I. 

Articles of compact between the proprietors and people of 
Transylvania.— (1 HaWs Sketches of the Wes^ 271.) 

Whereas, it is highly necessary, for the purpose of the propri- 
etors and the security of the people of this colony, that the pow- 
ers of the one and the liberties of the other be ascertained; We, 
Richard Henderson, Nathaniel Hart, and J. Luttrel, on behalf ot 
ourselves, as well as the other proprietors of the colony of Tran- 
sylvania, of the one part — and the representatives of the people 
of said colony, in convention assembled, of the other part — do 
20 



154 

most solemnly enter into the following contract or agreement, 
to wit: 

1. That the election of delegates in this colony be annual. 

2. That the convention may adjourn, and meet again on their 
own adjournment: Provided, that in cases of great emergency, 
the proprietors may call together the delegates before the time 
adjourned to; and, if a majority do not attend, they may dissolve 
them and call a new one. 

3. That, to prevent dissension and delay of business, one pro- 
prietor shall act for the whole, or some one delegated by them 
for that purpose, who shall always reside in the colony. 

4. That there be perfect religious freedom and general tolera- 
tion: Provided, that the propagators of any doctrine or tenets, 
evidently tending to the subversion of our law, shall, for such con- 
duct, be amenable to, and punished by, the civil courts. 

5. That the judges of the superior or supreme courts be ap- 
pointed by the proprietors, but be supported by the people, and 
to them be answerable for their malconduct. 

6. That the quit-rents never exceed two shillings sterling per 
hundred acres. 

7. That the proprietors appoint a sheriff, who shall be one of 
three persons recommended by the court. 

8. That the judges of the superior courts have, without fee or 
reward, the appointment of the clerks of this colony. 

9. That the judges of the inferior courts be recommended by 
the people, and approved by the proprietors, and by them com- 
missioned. 

10. That all other civil and military officers be within the ap- 
pointment of the proprietors. 

11. That the office of surveyor-general belong to no person 
interested, or a partner in this purchase. 

12. That the legislative authority, after the strength and ma- 
turity of the colony will permit, consist of three branches, to wit: 
the delegates or representatives chosen by the people; a council, 
not exceeding twelve men, possessed of landed estate, who reside 
in the colony, and the proprietors. 

13. That nothing with respect to the number of delegates from 
any town or settlement shall hereafter be drawn into precedent, 
but that the number of representatives shall be ascertained by 
law, when the state of the colony will admit of amendment. 

14. That the land office be always open. 

15. That commissions, without profit, be granted without fee. 

16. That the fees and salaries of all officers appointed by the 
proprietors, be settled and regulated by the laws of the country. 

17. That the convention have the sole power of raising and 
appropriating all public moneys, and electing their treasurer. 



155 

18. That, for a short time, till the state of the colony will per- 
mit to fix some place of holding the convention which shall be 
permanent, the place of njeeting shall be agreed upon between 
the proprietors and the convention. 

To the faithful, and religious, and perpetual observance of all 
and every of the above articles, the said proprietors, on behalf of 
themselves as well as those absent, and the chairman of the con- 
vention on behalf of them and their constituents, have hereunto 
interchangeably set their hands and affixed their seals, the twenty 
seventh day of May, one thousand seven hundred and seventy 
five. 

Richard Henderson. [^Seal.^ 
Nathaniel Hart. [^Seal.l 

J. LuTTREL. l^SeaL] 

T. Slaughter, Ch'mn. \_SealJ] 

II. 

In connexion with what has been said in the text of the pro- 
prietors of the colony of Transylvania, it may be considered pro- 
per that I should subjoin some notice of them individually. I 
have to regret that my information is so limited, as to render 
what I shall say of them, in a great degree, unsatisfactory. Of 
Col. Henderson I know nothing, except what I have found in a 
book of somewhat questionable authority, of which I proceed to 
give a short account. Previously to the year 1775 — the exact 
time is uncertain — there came to America an individual, who is 
fully entitled to the distinction of having been the first of the race 
of British travellers in the United States, of whom the present 
age has been so productive. He calls himself J. F. D. Smyth, 
Esq.* He landed in Virginia, and travelled through that State, 
viewing as he went, with a very inquisitive eye, the soil and its 
productions, the cities and villages, the institutions, the manners 

* He is the Dr. Smyth to whom allusion is made by Mr. Girardin, in his History 
of Virginia, as having been engaged with Cameron and Connolly, in furthering a 
scheme of Lord Dunmore, in the fall of 1775, which "contemplated an active co- 
operation of the Indians with the disaffected in the back settlements," for an invasion 
of Virfinia. As they were proceeding to Detroit, "the destined theatre of their ope- 
rations," they were taken into custody, about five miles from Hagerstown,'and thrown 
into prison. They were taken to Philadelphia, and detained in custody by the Congress, 
for a considerable time. See Girardia'g History of Va., page 75 — and Appendix 
thereto — No. 4. 



156 

and customs of the people. He found himself at length in Tar- 
burg, North Carolina, and from thence "struck out" into a fine 
settlement called Nutbush, from a creek of that name which runs 
through it. At the house "of one Williams's, a lawyer who was 
said to be, and was very much like a mulatto," he "happened to 
fall in company, and have a great deal of conversation with, one 
of the most singular and extraordinary persons and eccentric 
geniuses in America, and perhaps in the world." It was Col. 
Henderson, afterwards President of Transylvania. 

The result of the conversation was a strong solicitude to visit 
Kentucky. Accordingly, he crossed over the Alleghany moun- 
tains, and "fell upon the Warrior's branch" of the Kentucky 
river. Directing his course down that stream, he "I'eached the 
foot of the great ridge of the Ouasiotto mountains," He ascend- 
ed those mountains, and "from the brow or edge of the summit 
looking back," he saw "the huge Alleghany's which he had cross- 
ed"; and "on the other edge of the summit, as he advanced, a 
champaign country, covered with prodigious woods, but at the 
same time in full verdure, and intersected with vast rivers and 
prodigious water courses, which all terminated in the mighty, 
majestic Ohio. Some of the course of this amazing and beautiful 
river, was also to be discovered by a chasm or break in the woods, 
where it flowed in awful, solemn silence." 

He "descended the Ouasiotto mountains, and in a short time 
fell into the great War path which had been used by the Indians 
time out of mind." 

He describes the Warrior's branch as "a considerable river, and 
after its confluence with two more rivers, neither of which is so 
large as itself, forms the Kentucky." "In five easy days jour- 
neys," he at length arrived "at the famed settlement" of Colonel 
Henderson at Boonesborough, on the eighth day of June. He 
was kindly and hospitably received: walked over and admired 
his plantation — visited several improvements in the neighbor- 
hood — explored the country to the confluence of the Kentucky 
with the Ohio river — descended the latter river to the falls — and 
proceeded from thence to New Orleans. It is not long before 
Mr. Smyth is at Pittsburgh — he is arrested as a spy and impri- 
sioned, and, according to his own account, was most unjustifiably 



157 

dealt with. He returned to England, and in 1784, published his 
tour in the United States of America. From it the foregoing 
information concerning him has been derived. He thus speaks 
of Col. Henderson: 

"His father is still alive, a poor man, whose residence is in the 
settlement of Nutbush, where he was at this time on a visit. 

This son was grown up to maturity before he had been taught 
to read or write, and he acquired those rudiments of education, 
and arithmetic also, by his own indefatigable industry. 

He then obtained the inferior office of constable; from that 
was promoted to the office of under-sherifl"; after this he procured 
a license to plead as a lawyer, in the inferior or county courts, 
and soon after in the superior, or highest courts of judicature. 

Even there, where oratory and eloquence is as brilliant and 
powerful as in Westminster-hall, he soon became distinguished 
and eminent, and his superior genius shone forth with great splen- 
dor, and universal applause. 

He was, at the same time, a man of pleasure, gay, facetious, 
and pliant; nor did his amazing talents,- and general praise, cre- 
ate him a single enemy. 

In short, while yet a very young man, he was promoted from 
the bar to the bench, and appointed Associate Chief Judge of the 
province of North Carolina, with a salary adequate to the dig- 
nity. 

Even in this elevated station, his reputation and renown con- 
tinued to increase. 

But having made several large purchases, and having fallen into 
a train of expence that his circumstances and finances could not 
support, his extensive genius struck out on a bolder tract to for- 
tune and fame, than any one had ever attempted before him. 

Under pretence of viewing some back lands, he privately 
went out to the Cherokee nation of Indians, and, for an insignifi- 
cant consideration (only ten wagons loaded with cheap goods, 
such as coarse woollens, trinkets, some fire-arms, and spirituous 
liquors,) made a purchase from the chiefs of the nation, of a vast 
tract of territory, equal in extent to a kingdom; and in the excel- 
lence of climate and soil, extent of its rivers, and beautiful ele- 
gance of situations, inferior to none in the universe. A domain 
of no less than one hundred miles square, situated on the back 
or interior part of Virginia, and of North and South Carolina; 
comprehending the river Kentucky, Cherokee, and Ohio, besides 
a variety of inferior rivulets, delightful and charming as imagina- 
tion can conceive. 

This transaction he kept a profound secret, until such time as 
he obtained the final ratification of the whole nation in form. 
Then he immediately invited settlers from all the provinces, offer- 



158 

ing them land on the most advantageous terms, and proposing to 
them hkewise, to form a legislature and government of their 
own; such as might be most convenient to their particular cir- 
cumstances of settlement. And he instantly vacated his seat on 
the bench. 

Mr. Henderson by this means established a new colony, nu- 
merous and respectable, of which he himself was actually propri- 
etor as well as governor, and indeed legislator also; having 
framed a code of laws, particularly adapted to their singular 
situation, and local circumstances. 

In vain did the different governors fulminate their proclama- 
tions of outlawry against him and his people: in vain did they 
offer rewards for apprehending him, and forbid every person 
from joining, or repairing to his settlement ; under the sanction 
and authority of a general law, that renders the formal assent of 
the governors and assemblies of the different provinces absolutely 
necessary to vindicate the purchase of any lands from the Indian 
nations. For this instance, being the act of the Indians them- 
selves, they defended him and his colony, being in fact as a bul- 
wark and barrier between Virginia, as well as North and South 
Carolina and him ; his territory lying to the westward of their 
nation." 

III. 

Nathaniel Hart, whose name is so intimately connected with 
the first settlement of Kentucky, was born in the year 1734, in 
Hanover county, Virginia. Thomas Hart lived and died in Han- 
over, leaving five sons, of whom Nathaniel Hart was the young- 
est, and one daughter. After his father's death, which occurred 
in 1775, the whole family removed to Orange county. North 
Carolina, where Nathaniel Hart married in 1760, and continued 
for many years engaged in mercantile business. About the years 
1770 and 1771, Capt. Hart commanded a company of Infantry 
which was actively engaged in the suppression of an insurrection 
in North Carolina (the purpose of which was, to shut up the 
courts of justice and prostrate government itself) and was hand- 
somely complimented by the officers of the government, for the 
gallant and spirited behaviour of the detatchment under his com- 
mand. 

Shortly after this, Daniel Boone, who resided in the same sec- 
tion of the country, returned from his long hunt of three years in 
Kentucky, and by his glowing description of its beauty, and the 
fertility of its soil, soon excited in others the spirit of an enter- 
prize, which in point of magnitude and peril, as well as constancy 
and heroism displayed in its execution, has never been paralleled in 
the history of America. Capt. Hart (who knew Boone and con- 



159 

fided in his statements) was active in the formation of a company 
containing four of his immediate family, and lour of his friends, 
with Col. Henderson as its legal head, for the purpose of under- 
taking the purchase and settlement of the wilderness of Kentucky. 
As soon as the company was organized, Capt. Hart set out alone 
on a trip to the Cherokee towns, on Holston, to ascertain, by a 
previous conference with the Indians, whether the purchase could 
be eflected. After a propitious interview, he returned to N. 
Carolina, taking with him a delegation of the Indian chiefs who 
remained to escort the company back to the treaty ground, when, 
on the 17th of March, 1775, they negotiated the purchase of 
Transylvania from the Indians, and immediately departed for the 
Kentucky river. From this period Capt. Hart spent most of his 
time in Kentucky, although he did not attempt to bring his family 
out till the fall of 1779. In August, 1782, as he was carelessly 
riding out in the vicinity of the ibrt, he was killed and scalped by 
a small party of Indians who made their escape, although warmly 
pursued by Col. Boone. His widow survived him about two 
years. Their descendants all reside in Kentucky. 

In the final settlement of the affairs of Henderson & Co., the 
company allowed Capt. Hart 200 pounds for extraordinary servi- 
ces rendered and risk incurred, by him in the settlement of Ken- 
tucky. 



Note F. — page 53. 
To the honorable the Convention of Virginia 

The petition of the inhabitants, and some of the intended settlers* 
of that part of North America now denominated Transylvania, 
humbly sheweth. 

Whereas some of your petitioners became adventurers in that 
country from the advantageous reports of their friends who first 
explored it, and others since allured by the specious shew of the 
easy terms on which the land was to be purchased from those 
who stile themselves proprietors, have, at a great expense and 
many hardships, settled there, under the faith of holding the 
lands by an indefeasible title, which those gentlemen assured 
them they were capable of making. But your petitioners have 
been greatly alarmed at the late conduct of those gentlemen, in 
advancing the price of the purchase money from twenty shillings 
to fifty shillings sterling per hundred acres, and at the s'ame time 
have increased the fees of entry and surveying to a most exorbit- 
ant rate; and, by the short period prefixed for taking up the lands, 
even on those extravagant terms, they plainly evince their inten- 



160 

tions of rising in their demands as the settlers increase, or their 
insatiable avarice shall dictate. And your petitioners have been 
more justly alarmed at such unaccountable and arbitrary proceed- 
ings, as they have lately learned, from a copy of the deed made 
by the Six Nations Avith Sir William Johnson, and the commis- 
sioners from this Colony, at Fort Stanwix, in the year 1768, that 
the said lands were included in the cession or grant of ail that tract 
which lies on the south side of the .river Ohio, beginning at the 
mouth of Cherokee or Hogohege liver, and extending up the said 
river to Kettaning. And, as in the preamble of the said deed, 
the said confederate Indians declare the Cherokee river to be 
their true boundary with the southard Indians, your petitioners 
may, with great reason, doubt the validity of the purchase that 
those proprietors have made of the Cherokees — the only title they 
set up to the lands for which they demand such extravagant sums 
from your petitioners, without any other assurance for holding 
them than their own deed and warrantee; a poor security, as 
your petitioners humbly apprehend, for the money that, among 
other new and unreasonable regulations, these proprietors insist 
should be paid down on the delivery of the deed. And, as we 
have the greatest reason to presume that his majesty, to whom 
the lands were deeded by the Six nations, for a valuable consid- 
eration, will vindicate his title, and think hiinself at liberty to 
grant them to such persons, and on such terms as he pleases, your 
petitioners would, in consequence thereof, be turned out of pos- 
session, or obliged to purchase their lands and improvements on 
such terms as the new grantee or proprietor might think fit to 
impose; so that we cannot help regarding the demand of Mr. 
Henderson and company as highly unjust and impolitic, in the 
infant state of the settlement, as well as greatly injurious to your 
petitioners, who would cheerfully have paid the consideration at 
first stipulated by the company, whenever then' grant had been 
confirmed by the crown, or otherwise authenticated by the su- 
preme legislature. 

And, as we are anxious to concur in every respect with our 
brethren of the united Colonies, for our just rights and privileges, 
as far as our infant settlement and remote situation will admit of, 
we humbly expect and implore to be taken under the protection 
of the honorable Convention of the Colony of Virginia, of which 
we cannot help thinking ourselves still a part, and request your 
kind interposition in our behalf, that we may not suffer under the 
rigorous demands and impositions of the gentlemen stiling them- 
selves proprietors, who, the better to effect their oppressive de- 
signs, have given them the color of a law, enacted by a score of 
men, artfully picked from the few adventurers who went to see 
the country last summer, overawed by the presence of Mr. Hen- 
derson. 



161 

And that you would take such measures as your honors in your 
wisdom shall judge most expedient for restoring peace and har- 
mony to our divided settlement; or, if your honors apprehend 
that our case comes more properly before the honorable the Gen- 
eral Congress, that you would in your goodness recommend the 
same to your worthy delegates, to espouse it as the cause of the 
Colony. And your petitioners, &c. 

James Harrod, Abm. Hite, Jun., Patrick Dorane, Ralph Nailor, 
Robert Atkinson, Robert Nailor, John Maxfeld, Samuel Pottin- 
ger, Burnerd Walter, Hugh McMillion, John Kilpatrick, Robert 
Dook, Edward Brownfield, John Beesor, Conrod Woolter, John 
Moore, John Corbie, Abraham Vanmetre, Samuel Moore, Isaac 
Pritcherd, Joseph Gwyne, Charles Creeraft, James Willie, John 
Camron, Thomas Kenady, Jesse Pigman, Simon Moore, John 
Moore, Thomas Moore, Herman Consoley, Silas Harland, Wm. 
Harrod, Levi Harrod, John Mills, Elijah Mills, Jehu Harland, 
Leonard Cooper, William Rice, Arthur Ingram, Thomas Wilson, 
William Wood, Joseph Lyons, George Uland, Michael Thomas, 
Adam Smith, Samuel Thomas, Henry Thomas, William Myars, 
Peter Paul, Henry Simons, William Gaffata, James Hugh, Thos. 
Bathugh, John Connway, William Crow, William Feals, Benja- 
min Davis, Beniah Dun, Adam Neelson, William Shephard, Wm. 
House, John Dun, John Sim, Sen., John House, Simeon House, 
Andrew House, William Hartly, Thomas Dean, Richard Owan, 
Barnet Neal, John Severn, James Hugh, James Calley, Joseph 
Parkison, Jediah Ashraft, John Hardin, Archibald Reves, Moses 
Thomas, J. Zebulon Collins, Thomas Parkison, Wm. Muckleroy, 
Meridith Helm, Jun., Andrew House, David Brooks, John Helm, 
Benjamin Parkison, William Pai'kison, William Crow. — (See 2 
HaWs Sketches — Appendix, 236. 



Note G. — page 5S. 
Diary of Geo. Rogers Clark, from December 25, 1776. 
Harrodsburgh, Dec. 25, 1776. 

Dec. 25. — Ten men going to the Ohio for powder — met on the 
waters of Licking creek by Indians, and defeated — John G. Jones, 
William Graden and Josiah Dixon were killed. 

Dec. 29. — A large party of Indians attacked McClelland's Fort 
and wounded John McClelland, Charles White, Robert Todd and 
Edward Worthington — the two first mortally. 

Dec. 30. — Charles White died of his wound. 

21 



162 

Jan. 6, 1777.— John McClelland died of his wound. 30th— 
moved to Harrodsburgh from McClelland's Fort. 

Feb. — Nothing remarkable done. 

March 5. — Militia of the county embodied — 6th, Thos. Shores 
and William Ray killed at the Sbawanese Spring — 7th, the 
Indians attempted to cut off from the fort a small party of our 
men. A skirmish ensued — we had four men wounded and some 
cattle killed. We killed and scalped one Indian and wounded 
several — 8th, brought in corn from the different cribs until the 
18th day — 9th, express sent to the settlement. Ebenezer Corn 
& Co. arrived from Captain Linn on the Mississippi — 18lh, a 
small party of Indians killed and scalped Hugh Wilson, about 
half a mile from the fort near night, and escaped — I9th, Archi- 
bald McNeal died of his wounds received on the 7th inst — 28th, 
a large party of Indians attacked the stragglers about the fort, 
killed and scalped Garret Pendergrest, killed or took prisoner, 
Peter Flin. 

April 7. — Indians killed one manatBoonesborough, and wound- 
ed one — 8th, Stoner arrived with news from the settlement — 
16th, Doran Brown & Co. arrived from Cumberland river — 19th, 
John Todd and Richard Callaway elected Burgesses. James Ber- 
ry married to widow Wilson — 20th, Ben Linn and Samuel Moore 
sent express to the Illinois — 24th, 40 or 50 Indians attacked 
Boonesborough, killed and scalped Daniel Goodman, wounded 
Capt. Boone, Capt. Todd, Mr. Ilite and Mr. Stoner. Indians, 'tis 
thought, sustained much damage — 29th, Indians attacked the fort 
and killed ensign McConnell. 

May 6. — Indians discovered placing themselves near the fort. 
A few shots exchanged — no harm done. 12th, John Cowan and 
Squire Boone arrived from the settlement. 18th, McGary and 
Haggin sent express to Fort Pitt. 23d, John Todd & Co. set off 
for the settlement. 23d, a large party of Indians attacked Boones- 
borough fort; kept a warm fire until 11 o'clock at night; began 
it next morning and kept a warm fire until midnight, attempting 
several times to burn the fort; three of our men were wounded — 
not mortally; the enemy suffered considerably. 26th, a party 
went out to hunt Indians; one wounded Squire Boone and es- 
caped. 30th, Indians attacked Logan's Fort; killed and scalped 
William Hudson, wounded Burr Harrison and John Kennedy. 

June 5. — Harrod and Elliot went to meet Col. Bowman &l Co^ 
Glen and Laird arrived from Cumberland; Daniel Lyons, who 
parted with them on Green river, we suppose was killed going into 
Logan's Fort. Jno. Peters andElisha Bathey we expect were killed 
coming home from Cumberland. 13th, Burr Harrison died of 
his wounds received the 30th of May. 22d, Ben. Linn and Sam- 
uel Moore arrived from Illinois ; Barney Stagner, Sen., killed 



163 

and beheaded half mile from the fort. A few guns fired at 
Boone's. 

July 9. — Lieutenant Linn Married — great merriment. 11th, 
Harrod returned. 23d, express returned from Pittsburgh. 

August 1. — Col. Bowman arrived at Boonesborough. 5th, 
surrounded ten or twelve Indians near the fort — killed three and 
wounded others; the plunder was sold for upwards of £70. 11th, 
John Higgins died of a lingeiing disorder. 25th, Ambrose Gray- 
son killed near Logan's^Fort, and wounded two others: Indians 
escaped. 

September 2. — Col. Bowman &Co. arrived at this place; court 
held, &c. 8lh, 27 men set out for the settlement, yili, Indians 
discovered — a shot exchanged — nothing done, lllh, 37 men 
went to Joseph Bowman's for corn, while shelling they were fired 
on; a skirmish ensued ; Indians drew olf, leaving two dead on the 
spot and much blood; Eh Gerrard was killed on the spot and six 
others wounded. 12ih, Daniel Brayan died of his wounds re- 
ceived yesterday. 17tli, express sent to the settlement; Mrs. 
Sanders died. 23d, express arrive from Boone's and say, that on 
the 13ih Capt. Smith arrived there with 48 men — 150 more on 
the march for this: also, that General Washington had defeated 
Howe — Joyful news, if true. 26ih, brought in a load of corn — 
frost in the morning. 29th, bought a horse — price £12; swapped 
with I. Shelby — boot £10; Silas ilarland and James Harrod, dr. 
to £18 of powder, 22 lead. 30th, intended to start for settle- 
ment — horses lost. 

Wednesday, Oct. 1. — I start for the settlement — 22 men; got 
to Logan's, 20 miles. 2d, Capt. Montgomery arrived at Logan's 
with 38 men, and say that Capt. Watkins would be in in a day 
or two. 3d, started on our journey; Capt. Powlin and company 
likewise — 76 in all, beside women and children, and took beeves 
from Whitley of G*****; camped at Pettit's, 16 miles. 4th, rain 
in the morning; camped on Skaggs' creek, 18 miles. 5th, early 
start; spies killed a buffalo; camped one half mile from the Ha- 
zle Patch, 9 miles across Rockcastle river, 20 miles — all safe. 6th, 
early start; camped on Laurel river; marched 14 miles; killed a 
beef. 7th, waited for Scaggs — he not coming to us we killed a 
few deer. 8th, Scaggs came to us and went back for his skins. 
9lh, lost our beeves; marched three miles; crossed Laurel river, 
and camped on the bank. lOih, early start; camped on Rich- 
land creek, 17 miles, where we met Capt. Charles G. Watkins 
on his march to Boone's with 50 men and families; scarce of food, 
llth, marched to Cumberland ford, 18 miles; killed two buila- 
loes; Indians about us. 12th, crossed the R. and C. mountains; 
encamped in Powell's valley, 4 miles from the gap; in the whole 
19 miles. 13th, late start; got to Martin's, 18 miles. 14th, ieft 



164 

Capt. Pertin; marched 15 miles. 15th, crossed Powel's river; march- 
ed 20 miles; camped on the south side of Powel's mt. 16th, got 
to the Rhye Cox, 9 miles. 17th, to Blackamoore's, 6 miles. 18th, 
parted with the company; lodged at More's fort, 20 miles. 19th, 
lodged at Capt. Kincaid's, 22 miles. 20th, crossed Clinch moun- 
tain; met Mr. Maulding, and heard from my friends; lodged at 
Col. Campbell's, 21 miles. 21st, lodged at .Jasper Kindsers's; got 
my horse shod on the way; breakfast and fed. Is. 3d., 22 miles. 
22d, cloudy morning, no rain; lodged at Sawyer's; expenses. Is. 
3d., 28 miles. 23d, falling in company with Capt. Campbell, an 
agreeable companion, we travelled 33 miles; lodged at Cook's; 
poor fare; expenses, 6s. 6d. 24lh, sold my gun to Mr. Love, 
£15; swapped horses with I. Love; gave £7. 10s. boot; lodged at 
H. Neelie's, 25 miles. 25th, received a letter from Capt. Bow- 
man, informing me that he had an order of court to carry salt to 
Kentucky **** ; lodged at Bottetourt, 25 miles — 412 miles from 
Harrodsburgh. 26th, rain; slaid at Lockhart's tavern. 27th, 
rain; expenses £1. 4s. 28th, rain; start after breakfast; rained 
slowly all day; lodged at Bartlett's; expenses 4s., 25 miles. 29th, 
parted with my companion, Capt. Campbell; lodged at J. Mc- 
Lung's; 5s., 28 miles. 30th, crossed the Blue Ridge; lodged at 
Blacke's, at foot of the Mt.; 5s., 23 miles. 31st, bought a pair of 
shoes in Charlottsville; lodged at ****, 35 miles — 15 miles from 
Charlottsville. 

Saturday, Nov. 1 — Got to my father's at about 10 o'clock at 
night — all well — 55 miles, in the whole, 620 miles from Harrods- 
burgh. 2d, staid at my father's. 3d, started for Williamsburg; 
lodged at Mr. Gwathmey's, 40 miles. 4lh, lodged at Warren's; 
Is. 6d., 29 miles. 5th, got to Williamsburg; lodged at Ander- 
son's; had a confirmation of Burgoine's surrender. 6th, bought 
a ticket in the State Lottery, £3, number 10,693, first class. 7th, 
went to the Auditor's; laid before them the Kentucky accounts; 
they refused to settle them without the consent of the council. 
8th, got an order from the council to settle them. 9lh, Sunday, 
went to church. 10th, passed the accounts with the Auditors, 
exc3pt my own, which they refuse to settle without the consent 
of the council. 18th, settled with the Auditors; drew the mo- 
ney of the Treasurer, £726; bought a piece of cloth for a jacket, 
price £4. 15s., buttons, &c. 3s. 19th, left Williamsburg after 
breakfast — expenses £9. 18s.; lodged at Warren's. 20th, got to 
Mr. Gwathmey's — expenses 13s. 21st, staid at do. 22d, came 
to my father's. 



165 

Note H. — page 69. 

The life and campaigns of General George Rogers Clark would 
be a most valuable accession to our western history, and I am 
gratified to be able to state that the materials for such a work 
are in a state of preparation by L. Bliss, Jr., Esq. of Louisville. 
That gentleman has been so obliging as to submit to my perusal 
the autograph memoir of the distinguished soldier, commencing 
with the period of his visit to Kentucky in 1776, and closing 
with the year 1777. I have drawn freely upon it, although Mr. 
Butler's delightful narrative of the Illinois campaigns covered 
pretty much thesame ground. 

I have alluded in the text to a letter addressed by General 
Clark to "the inhabitants of Vincennes," communicating to Gov- 
ernor Hamilton, the first intelligence of his approach. It is a 
singular paper, and I take the liberty to insert it. 

^^To the Inhabitants of Vincennes. 

"Being now within two miles of your village with my army, 
determined to take your fort this night, and not being willing to 
surprise you, I take this step to request such of you as are true cit- 
izens, and willing to enjoy the liberty I bring you, to remain still 
in your houses ; and those (if any there be) tiiat are friends to the 
King of England, to repair instantly to the fort, join their troops 
and fight like men. And if any such should hereafter be discov- 
ered, that did not repair to the garrison, they may depend on se- 
vere punishment. On the contrary, those that are true friends 
to liberty may expect to be well treated. As such, I once more 
request that they will keep out of the streets, for every person 
found under arms on my arrival, will be treated as an enemy." 

"I had various ideas," says the venerable auto-biographer, "on 
the supposed result of this letter. I knew it could do us no 
damage — that it would cause the lukewarm to be decided — en- 
courage our friends and astonish our enemies — that they would 
of course suppose our information good, and our forces so numer- 
ous, that we were sure of success." 



Note I. — page 73. 

Capt. Imlay's account of the policy and operation of the land 
laws of Virginia, indicates, it may be supposed, the opinion gen- 
erally entertained, at the period of their adoption, of their salu- 
tary influence. 



166 

"A land office," he says, "was opened by the State granting 
warrants for any quantity of unlocated land upon condition of 
certain sums of depreciated continental currency, paid into the 
Treasury, at so much per hundred acres." "/if was necessary in 
the management of this business, that care should be taken to pre- 
vent that perplexity and litigation, which the vague manner in 
which that business was executed in many instances, would pro- 
duce." 

For this purpose, he says, "surveyors were appointed," and 
"commissioners were sent to adjust the claims of settlement and 
pre-emption; by which means order was preserved, and the gov- 
ernment of a district of country, separated at that time more 
than two hundred miles from any other settled country — a coun- 
try which had grown up under the devastation of a most barbarous 
civil war, and under the miseries of famine and distress" estab- 
lished — And the order and quiet which prevailed in 1784, were 
sufficient to have induced a stranger to have beUeved, that he 
was living under an old settled government. Such is the science 
of jurisprudence, when it works upon simple and substantial 
springs. Hence arises harmony without expence, and equity 
withoiU litigation. Here are no musty forms to lead you into lab- 
yrinths of doubt and perphxity — no contradictory cases and re- 
ports to distract your opinions. Our decisions are governed by 
acts of the legislature, decreed upon the elementary principles of 
truth and justice." — Imlay's description of Kentucky, pp. 2)2, 36. 

If the author had lived till the present time, he would have 
had occasion to retract these opinions. Willingly would he have 
exchanged "decrees" founded "on elementary principles of truth 
and justice," for the "musty forms" and "contradictory cases" of 
the common law. "Harmony without expence ! " "Equity with- 
out litigation!" "Angels and ministers of grace defend us" from 
another series of "descisions" governed "by acts of the legisla- 
ture." 

The principal act upon this subject was passed in may, 1779, 
It was entitled, "an act for establishing a land office, and ascer- 
taining the terms and manner of granting waste and unappropri- 
ated lands." 

"In creating a sinking fund in aid of the annual taxes to 
discharge the public debt," it was enacted* "that any person 
might acquire title to so much waste and unappropriated 
lands as he or she might desire to purahase, on paying the con- 
sideration of forty pounds for every hundred acres, and so in 

•See Revised Code of Virginia, 1819, 366. 



167 

in proportion for a greater or smaller quantity." The money 
was made payable to the Treasurer, who was required to give a 
receipt for the purchase money — and upon presentation of that 
receipt to the Auditor, a certificate was issued by him showing 
the quantity of land purchased. The certificate was lodged in 
the land office, and the register of that office granted a warrant 
authorizing the land to be surveyed. Surveyors were appointed in 
every county, "to be nominated, examined and certified able by 
the President and professors of William and Mary College," by 
whom, or by their deputies, the surveys were to be made. Upon 
a return of a plat and certificate of the survey of the land to the 
Register's office, it was made the duty of the Register to record 
them, and to make out a grant for the land, which, when signed 
by the Governor with the seal of the Commonwealth annexed, 
consummated the purchaser's title. 

Col. Thomas Marshall was appointed surveyor of the county 
of Fayette — George May of Jefferson, and James Thompson of 
Lincoln. 

Col. Marshall was a gentleman of high standing in Virginia. 
He had been a member of the General Assembly in 1774, and 
was one of that band of patriots, who, with Washington and 
Henry, resolved to resist the assumptions of the British govern- 
ment at the hazard of all that was dear to men. He attached 
himself in 1775 to the army, and in the capacity of Major, was 
conspicuous for his gallantry in the battle of the great Bridge on 
the ninth of December, 1775.* In the following year he was 
placed at the head of the third Virginia regiment on continental 
establishment,! and distinguished himself in the battles of Bran- 
dywine and Germantown. In 1778 he took the command of the 
Virginia regiment of State artillery, which he retained for three 
years. It was during that period that he first came to Kentucky 
— having received a special permission from the Governor. His 
object was to "locate land warrants, as a provision for a numer- 
ous family which he intended to remove to the country on the 
restoration of peace."J He opened his office of surveyor and 
commenced the discharge of its duties in November, 1782, and 

• Girardin'i History of Virginia, 35. . 1 1 Marsh. 345. t ^ ''»• 10*- 



168 

from that period became a citizen of Kentucky. T It does'not 
fall within the range of my subject, to speak of the part that he 
took in the political movements of the district. He was a promi- 
nent member, from the? county of Fayette, of some of the early 
conventions. 

Of Mr. May and Mr. Thompson, the historians furnish no other 
information, than that they acted as surveyors, and I am unable 
to add to it. 



Note K. — page 79. 

"Michael Stoner, this day appeared, and claimed a right to a 
settlement and pre-emption to a tract of land lying on Stoner's 
fork, a branch of the south fork of Licking, about twelve miles 
above Licking station, by making corn in the country in the year 
1775, and improving the said land in the year 1776; satisfactory 
proof being made to the court, they are of opinion that the said 
Stoner has a right to a settlement of four hundred acres of land, 
including the above-mentioned improvement, and a pre-emption 
of one thousand acres adjoining the same, and that a certificate 
issue accordingly." 

"Joseph Combs, this day claimed a right to a pre-emption of 
one thousand acres of land lying on Combs', since called How- 
ard's creek, about eight miles above Boonesborough, on both sides 
of the creek, and about three, or four miles, from the mouth of 
it, by improving the said land, by building a cabin on the premi- 
ses in the month of May, 1775, Satisfactory proof being made 
to the court, they are of opinion that the said Combs, has a right 
to a pre-emption of one thousand acres, including the said im- 
provement, and that a certificate issue accordingly." 

"Robert Espie, this day appeared and claimed a pre-emption 
of four hundred acres of land, he being a settler in this country, 
who made corn in the year YKIS, as appears by testimony, lying 
on the waters of Paint Lick, near the land of William Kennedy, 
at a spring, with the R. A. cut on each tree. The court are of 
opinion that the said Espie has a right to the pre-emption of four 
hundred acres of land, according to law — and that a certificate 
issue for the same." — ^ee 1 Marshall's History of Kentucky, 
page 100. 



169 



Note J. — page 75. 

Gen. Charles Scott was at the time alluded to in the text, the 
Governor of Kentucky, having been elected in August, 1808. 
He was an officer of the Revolution, came to Kentucky in 1786, 
and commanded an expedition against the Indians in that year. 
(See 1 Marshall's History of Kentucky, page 373.) He was a 
great favorite of the people of Kentucky — a faithful public offi- 
cer — a man without fear and without reproach. 



Note L. — page 85. 

I extract from the address of my friend Dr. Drake, delivered 
before the Union Literary Society of Miami University, the fol- 
lowing incidents which, I understand, were communicated to 
him by the Hon. John Rowan: 

"In the latter part of April, 1784, my father, with his family, 
and five other families, set out from Louisville, in two flat-bot- 
tomed boats, for the Long Falls of Green river. The intention 
was to descend the Ohio river to the mouth of Green river, and 
ascend that river to the place of destination. At that time there 
were no settlements in Kentucky, within one hundred miles of 
the Long falls of Green river (afterwards called Vienna.) The 
families were in one boat and their cattle in the other. When 
we had descended the river Ohio about one hundred miles, and 
were near the middle of it, gliding along very securely, as we 
thought, about ten o'clock of the night, Ave heard a prodigious 
yelling, by Indians, some two or three miles below us, on the nor- 
thern shore. We had floated but a little distance farther down 
the river, when we saw a number of fires on that shore. The 
yelling still continued, and we concluded that they had captured 
a boat, which had passed us about mid-day, and were massa- 
creing their captives. Our two boats were lashed together, and 
the best practicable arrangements made for defending them. The 
men were distributed by my father, to the best advantage, in case 
of an attack, they were seven in number, including himself. The 
boats were neared to the Kentucky shore, with as little noise by 
the oars as possible. We were afraid to approach too near the 
Kentucky shore, lest there might be Indians on that shore also. 
We had not yet reached their uppermost fire (their fires were ex- 
tended along the bank, at intervals, for half a mile or more,) and 
22 



no 

we entertained a faint hope that we might slip by unperceived. 
But they discovered us when we had got about mid-way of their . 
fires, and commanded us to come to. We were silent, for my 
father had given strict orders that no one should utter any sound 
but that of his rifle; and not that until the Indians should come 
within powder-burning distance They united io a most terrific 
yell, and rushed to their canoes, and pursued us. We floated on 
in silence — not an oar was pulled. They approached us within 
less than a hundred yards, with a seeming determination to board 
us. Just at this moment, my mother rose from her seat, collect- 
ed the axes, and placed one by the side of each man, where he 
stood with his gun, touching him on the knee with the handle of 
the axe, as she leaned it up by him against the side of the boat, to 
let him know it was there, and retired to her seat, retaining a 
hatchet for herself. The Indians continued hovering on our rear, 
and yelling, for near three miles, when, awed by the inferences 
which they drew from our silence, they relinquished farther pur- 
suit. None but those who have had a practical acquaintance with 
Indian warfare, can form a just idea of the terror which their 
hideous yelling is calculated to inspire. I was then about ten 
years old, and shall never forget the sensations of that night; nor 
can I ever cease to admire the fortitude and composure displayed 
by my mother on that trying occasion. We were saved, I have 
no doubt, by the judicious system of conduct and defence, which 
my father had prescribed to our little band. We were seven 
men and three boys — but nine guns in all. They were more 
than a hundred. My mother, in speaking of it afterwards, in 
her calm way, said, we had made a providential escape, for which 
we ought lo feel grateful." — See Oxford Addresses, page 219. 



Note M. — page 88. 

I have not followed, scrupulously, the accounts given by the 
Kentucky historians, of the battle of the Little Mountain. My 
information is derived from gentlemen of high character in Madi- 
son county, on whose testimony the utmost reliance may be 
placed. 



171 



Note N.— pace 92. 



«'The more experienced of the garrison felt satisfied that a 
powerful party was in ambuscade near the spring, but at the 
same time they supposed that the Indians would not unmask 
themselves, until the firing upon the opposite side of the fort was 
returned with such warmth, as to induce the belief that the feint 
had succeeded. 

_ Acting upon this impression, and yielding to the urgent neces- 
sity of the case, they summoned all the women, without excep- 
tion, and explaining to them the circumstances in which they 
were placed, and the improbability that anv injury would be 
offered them, until the firing had been returned from the oppo- 
site side of the fort, they urged them to go in a body to the 
spring, and each to bring up a bucket full of water. Some of the 
ladies, as was natural, had no relish for the undertaking, and asked 
why the men could not bring water as well as themselves? ob- 
serving that theij were not bullet-proof, and that the Indians made 
no distinction between male and female scalps! 

To this it was answered, that women were in the habit of 
bringing water every morning to the fort, and that if the Indians 
saw them engaged as usual, it would induce them to believe that 
their ambuscade was undiscovered, and tiiat they would not un- 
mask thennselves for the sake of firing at a few women, when they 
hoped, by remaining concealed a few moments longer, to obtain 
complete possession of the fort. That if men should go down to 
the spring, the Indians would immediately suspect that somethino- 
was wrong, Avould despair of succeeding by ambuscade, and 
would instantly rush upon them, follow them into the fort, or 
shoot them down at the spring. The decision was soon over.' 

A few of the boldest declared their readiness to brave the dan- 
ger, and the younger and more timid rallying in the rear of these 
veterans, they all marched down in a body to the spring, within 
point blank shot of more than five hundred Indian warriors! 
Some of the girls could not help betraying symptoms of terrorj 
but the married women, in general, moved with a steadiness and 
composure, which completely deceived the Indians. Not a shot 
was fired. The party were permitted to fill their l^uckets, ono 
after another, without interruption, and although their steps be- 
came quicker and quicker, on their return, and when near the 
gate of the fort, degenerated into a rather unmilitary celerity, \ 
attended with some little crowding in passing the gate, yet not 
more than one fifth of the water was si)illed, and the'eyes of the^ 
youngest had not dilated to more than double their ordinary 
sae."—See McClung's Sketches, page 62. 



172 



Note O. — page 95. 



"A young man by the name of Reynolds, highly distinguished 
for courage, energy, and a frolicsome gaiety of temper, perceiving 
the effect of Girty's speech, took upon himself to reply to it. 

To Girty's inquiry, "whether the garrison knew him? Rey- 
nolds replied, "that he was very well known; that he himself had 
a worthless dog, to which he had given the name of 'Simon Gir- 
ty,' in consequence of his striking resemblance to the man of that 
name ; that if he had either artillery or reinforcements, he might 
bring them up and be d — d ; that if either himself, or any of the 
naked rascals with him, found their way into the fort, they would 
disdain to use their guns against them, but would drive them out 
again with switches, of which they had collected a great number 
for that purpose alone ; and finally, he declared, that they also 
expected reinforcements; that the whole country was marching 
to their assistance; and that if Girty and his gang of murderers 
remained twenty four hours longer before the fort, their scalps 
would be found drying in the sun upon the roofs of their cabins." 

See Mc Clung' s Sketches, page 66. 



Note P. — page 100. 

BATTLE OF THE BLUE LICKS. 

Letter from Daniel Boone to the Governor of Virginia. 

Boone's Station, Fayette Co., Aug. 30, 1782. 

Sir: — Present circumstances of affairs cause me to write to 
your Excellency as follows: On the 16th instant a large number 
of Indians, with some white men, attacked one of our frontier 
stations, known by the name of Bryant's Station. The siege 
continued from about sunrise till about ten o'clock the next day, 
when they marched off. Notice being given to the neighboring 
stations, we immediately raised 181 horsemen commanded by 
Col. John Todd, including some of the Lincoln county militia, 
commanded by Col. Trigg, and having pursued about forty miles, 
on the 19th inst. we discovered the enemy lying in wait for us. 
On this discovery we formed our columns into one single line, and 
marched up in their front within about forty yards before there was 
a gun fired. Col. Trigg commanded on the right, myself on the 
left, Maj. McGary in the centre, and Major Harlan the advance 
party in the front. From the manner in which we had formed, 
it fell to my lot to bring on tl^ attack. This was done with a 



173 



verv heavy fire on both sides, and extended back of the line to 
Col Tr?- ^vhere the enemy was so strong that they rushed up 
and brotethe r%ht wing at the first fire. Thus the enemy got 
fn our rear anTwe we"e compelled to retreat with the loss of 
seventy^se^en of our men and twelve wounded. Atterwards we 
wire reinforced by Col. Logan, which made our force four hun- 
Jred and ix'y men. We marched again to the battle ground, 
but frdlntth^e enemy had gone we proceeded to bury the dead 
We found^forty three on ihe ground, and many lay about which 
Te could not stay to find, hungry and weary as ^ve^vere and 
simewhat dubious that the enemy might not have f "^ ^^ ^^^^f; 
RTthVst'n we thought the Indians had exceeded tour bundled; 
^vL e th^wWe of ?his militia of the county does not amount to 
no e than one hundred and thirty. From these facts your Ex- 
cellency may form an idea of our situation. I know that your 
own drclstances are critical, but are we to be wholly forgot- 
?pn7 I hope not. I trust about five hundred men may be sent 
rLr asTtance immediately. If these shall be stationed a. 
our county lieutenants shall deem necessary, i may be the 
means of saving our part of the country; but if they are placed 
SrthedirectLof Gen. Clark, they will be of little or no 
service to our settlement. The Falls lie one hundred miles west 
of u 'and the Indians northeast; while our men are frequently 
called to protect them. I have encouraged the people in this 
counV all that I could, but I can no longer jusfJy them or my- 
self to risk our lives here under such extraordinary hazards The 
nhabitants of this county are very much alarmed at the though s 
of the Indians bringing another campaign into our country this 
?al if this should^be^the case, it will break up these settlements 
I h^pe, therefore, your Excellency will take the n^^tter into youi 
con^d;ration, and send us some relief as quick as possible These 
are my sentiments without consulting any person. C.0I. Logan 
will. I expect, immediately send you an express, by ^vhom hum- 
bly request your Excellency's answer-m the meanwhile I re- 

"^"^"' Subscribed DANIEL BOONE. 



Note Q. — page 100. 
The Hon. R. Wicklifl'e, of the Senate of Kentucky, has no 
doubt that such was Col. Todd's position. I have to acknowl- 
edcre my indebtedness to the same gentleman, for several particu- 
lar^'s of the action, not generally known. He derived them from 
individuals who were engaged in it. 



174 

Note R.— page 103. 



I am indebted to the Hon. R. Wickliffe, for the following pa.^ 
ticulars of Col. John Todd : ^ ^ 

He was the eldest of three brothers, and a native of Pennsvlva- 
r^M 7%'''"^""^.<1 '" Virginia, at his uncle's-the Rev Joh^ 

Ser,::v'rrtfe:^~»^^^^^^ 

having discovered Ken.'cVy ell. Todd l"'red whrth^'H """" 

office AeafZ 'T'^ "'■ ^^'"^'"'"' '" Col. Henders^on-riand 
ITSfi , ? af "wards returned to Virginia; and, in the vear 

one ;rfw;; "l""' *™™ J"°'"'=' ""^ hi? friend, John May.Cd 
tance os™her on the ^"""'='''T- '''''^^ P™''"''^'' -"^ d^s- 
lef" his sfrtant wi/l^r 1"t"?J' "'''"• '''"■ ^°™'^ '=='"=^. «■• May 

retu^^dToTic r d, vi™ a '" c'';rT:dd''"r*° ""rr"''- ^"1' 

Z'^T hi r ^fTr^^" """ '" ''i^ ""n rame, and tlie other in 

ttotes for^^ll't" "?-'■'"• ''°"' "f '"'-'■ he ol.ained cer" 
uucaies lor settlements and pre-emptions of 1 400 nrv^< Ti.^. 

.ei;j.h"^^raTeo4alTc:[™cTa,!P^^^^^^^^^^ 

hi thel^J,'J,tkfn\^ Todd was appointed to succeed hini 

legslature? paid n'm?'^ r" ''^ '" "' '^ '^' '^"^"" 

auered hv ri.vi i n , ' ^-^ '''''''^'' ^^at part of Virginia con- 

Srive"^ was'Jl-e^^^^^ '"^' territo'ry nortinv?st of the 

Todd was appoined'rr ^'^^^«""ty of Illinois, of which John 
with aTl the S! commandant and county Lieutenant, 

ized by enlistZnf "''^''■', ^^ ^^^^'-^or. He was further author- 
fence'^f' t e ron ieT ''tl'T' ^' "'" ' >"^"^"^ ^^^ ^^^ ^- 

h"sdrath The r^ ?"' '^'^ government, up to the time of 

<.«ain^^.;Li=i^L-tt>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



175 

raised four additional regiments — two for the eastern, and two 
for the western part of Virginia. It is supposed that Col. Joseph 
Crockett was promoted to the command of one of these regiments, 
and Colonel Todd was appointed to the other; no commission 
has been found, appointing him a Col. in the regular service; but 
depositions on file in Richmond, and old papers show that he was 
acting as a regular* Col. from about the time the regiments were 
expected to be raised. 

In the spring of 1780, Col. Todd was sent a delegate to the 
legislature of Virginia from the county of Kentucky: while 
attending on the legislature, he married Miss Hawkins, and re- 
turned again to Kentucky, and settled his wife in the fort at 
Lexington; but again visited the county of Illinois, and was en- 
gaged continually in the administration of its government and in 
other military affairs, so that he was seldom with his family, until 
the summer of 17S2, when, in the month of August, the Indians 
besieged Bryant's Station in great force. , 

[I pass over the account of the battle of the Blue Lick, which is 
the same as that given in the text.] 

Col. Todd fell in the midst of his usefulness, and in the prime 
of life, leaving a wife, an only child, (and that a daughter,) about 
twelve months old. That daughter was born in Lexington, and 
is supposed to be now the eldest female ever born in that place. 
She is the wife of R. WicklifTe, Esq., who has still in his family 
the Col's body servant — George; who, at the advanced age of 
eighty-odd years, retains his health, hearing, and intelligence, 
perfectly. George has passed through many trying scenes, with 
his master and others, and often speaks with great accuracy. He 
assisted, he says, to build the forts of Harrodsburg, Wdson's Sta- 
tion, and Lexington, and several times narrowly escaped with 
his life, when the parties he was with were attacked by the sav- 
ages. 

Col. Todd was a man of fine personal appearance and talents, 
and an accomplished gentleman; was universally beloved, and 
died without a stain upon his character, and it is believed without 
even one enemy upon earth. From the year 1778, he might be 
considered as residing in Illinois, (himself,) until he married in the 
year 1780. When he married, settling his family in Lexington, 
he was up to the time of his death enabled to stay but little with 
them, it is believed, that besides aiding in the councils held 
by Clark, and accompanying him in one or more of his expe- 
ditions, he passed the dangerous regions from Lexington to Kas- 
kaskia twice (and often four times) in every year. 

An anecdote, illustrative of the benevolence of his heart, was 
told by his widow, after his death, to his child: That, during the 
winter succeeding their marriage, the provisions of the fort at 



176 

Lexington became exhausted to such an extent, that, on her hus- 
band's return home with George one night, almost famished with 
hunger, she had been able to save for him a small piece of bread, 
about two inches square, and about a gill of milk, which she pre- 
sented to him ; on which he asked, if there was nothing for George? 
She answered, not a mouthfull. He called George, and handed 
him the bread and the milk, without taking any of it himself. 

George was tendered his liberty by the daughter, on her ar- 
riving at age, and often since, but he has wisely preferred to re- 
main with the child of his benefactor, in the state in which he 
left him. 



Note S.— page 125. 

I. 

« 

The names of the members of the Convention in 1787, held in 

Danville. 

Jefferson county — Richard Easton, Alexander Breckinridge, 
Michael Lackasang, Benjamin Sebastian, James Meriwether. 

Nelson county — Joseph Lewis, William McClung, John Cald- 
well, Isaac Cox, Matthew Walton. 

Fayette county — Levi Todd, John Fowler, Humphrey Mar- 
shall, Caleb Wallace, William Ward. 

Bourbon county — James Garrard, John Edwards, Benjamin 
Harrison, Edward Lyne, Henry Lee. . 

Lincoln county — Benjamin Logan, John Logan, Isaac Shelby, 
William Montgomery, Walker Baylor. 

Madison county — VVm. Irvine, John Miller, Higgerson Grubbs, 
Robert Rodes, David Crews. 

Mercer county — Samuel McDowell, Harry Innis, George Mu- 
ter, William Kennedy, James Speed. 

II. 

Members of the Convention in 1788. 

Jefferson county — Richard Taylor, Richard C. Anderson, Al- 
exander S. Bullitt, Abi'aham Hite, Benjamin Sebastian. 

Nelson county — Isaac Morrison, John Caldwell, Phillip Phillips, 
Joseph Barnett, James Bard. 

Fayette county — James Wilkinson, Caleb Wallace, Thomas 
Marshall, William Ward, John Allen. 

Bourbon county — James Garrard, John Edwards, Benjamin 
Harrison, John Grant, John Waller. 



177 

Lincoln county— Benjamin Logan, Isaac Shelby, Wm. Mont" 
gomery, Nathan Houston, Willis Green. 

Madison county — William Irvine, Geo. Adams, James French, 
Aaron Lewis, Higgerson Grubbs. 

Mercer county — Samuel McDowell, John Brown, Harry Innis, 
John Jouitt, Christopher Greenup. 



Note T.— page 126. 

1 have been furnished, by a friend, with the following bio- 
graphical sketch of Mr. Brown : 

John Brown was the son of the Rev. John Brown and Marga- 
ret Preston, and was born in Staunton, Virginia, on the 12th of 
September, 1757. His father was an Irish Clergyman of the 
Presbyterian denomination, who settled in the county of Augusta, 
when it formed the western frontier of Virginia, and was for 44 
years the pastor of the church at Providence meeting house. The 
settlement around him was at one time broken up by an incursion 
of Indians, all the occurrences connected with which were strong- 
ly impressed upon the mind of his son, who ever after retained a 
vivid recollection of the.m. In this secluded spot he reared a nu- 
merous family, who practiced through life the pure morality and 
virtue with which they were imbued by their pious parent. Hav- 
ing no patrimony to bestow upon them, he gave them the elements 
of a good education and trusted to their own energies to make 
them useful members of society. They were not brought up in 
the lap of luxury, but in the vigorous nurture of the western 
borderers, accustomed to labor in the field, to hunt in the forest 
and to excel in manly exercises. As a necessary consequence 
of such early habits, they grew up with fine physical develope- 
ments, and with a fearless and adventurous cast of character. 
His son John being the elder of the brothers, was the first to sepa- 
rate from the parental roof. In order to obtain for himself a more 
extensive education than there was an opportunity for him to 
procure at home, he became an assistant of the celebrated Dr. 
Waddell, (whose piety and eloquence have been so eloquently 
described by Mr. Wirt,) in a private school wiiich he at that time 
taught in his own house. With this interesting family he re- 
mained for nearly two years, and by the means thus acquired he 
entered Princeton College, of which institution he was a student 
when it was broken up by the Revolutionary War. On that occa- 
sion he united himself with the retreating American army, crossed 
the Delaware with them and remained some time in the service 
without being attached to any particular corps. Subsequently to 
23 



178 

this, he volunteered in a company which was raised in Rockbrido-e 
for the purpose of aiding Lafayette in his military operations in 
Virginia, with which company he continued until it was disband- 
ed by order of the General. His education, which had been in- 
terrupted by those events was again resumed and he entered 
William and Mary College, after leaving which he commenced 
the study of the law in the office of Mr. Jefferson. The inter- 
course which grew out of this connexion ripened into a personal 
and political friendship, which remained uninterrupted until the 
death of Mr. Jefferson. Upon completing his legal studies he 
determined to emigrate to the western country, although it was 
at that time the theatre of dangers of the most appalling charac- 
ter. His first intention was to settle upon the Holstein, but af- 
ter a brief residence there, he determined to remove to Kentucky 
which he entered for the first time in the winter of seventeen 
hundred and eighty two. From that early date to the period of 
his death, embracing a span of fifty four years, he had been a resi- 
dent of the western country. He was a most prominent and dis- 
tinguished actor in the events which preceded the separation of 
Kentucky from Virginia, and for many years subsequent to it. 
No one contributed more than he did to bring about that separa- 
tion, and to procure for Kentucky admission into the Union as 
an independent State, while his eflbrts to obtain for the entire 
west the full benefits of an unobstructed commerce were unceas- 
ing and, eventually, most signally successful. In the year 17t^5, 
he was elected a Senator in the Virginia legislature, from the 
then district of Kentucky; and in 1787, the legislature elected 
him a member of the old Congress, intending by that election to 
manifest the interest which Virginia felt in her western counties. 
By that election he became the first member ever sent from the 
western country to the Congress of the United States ! What 
a change did he not live to see? From a region inhabited 
by a few thousand souls, surrounded by almost impenetrable 
forests, and in daily combat with ferocious savages, he has seen 
the tide of population flow in until the valley of the Mississippi 
teems with six or seven millions of inhabitants, and holds the 
balance of power in the National Councils! Not only did he 
live to see Kentucky taking her rank as an independent member 
of the Confederacy, but he beheld in the west, alone, eleven im- 
portant and powerful sovereignties where the foot of civilized 
man had scarcely trodden when he first visited the land. No one 
witnessed these almost magical changes with more patriotic pride 
than he did, and it was a pleasure to hear him contrast the dan- 
gers and difficulties which he had encountered with the secu- 
rity, the abundance and the happiness which now every where 
^bounded. 



179 

Upon the formation of the New Constitution he was elected 
one of the first Senators from Kentucky, which distinguished 
honor was three times consecutively conferred upon him by the 
State, and he retired from public life about the close of the year 
1805. He had the good fortune to enjoy the confidence of and a 
personal intimacy with General Washington, by whom he was 
honored with important commissions of a military trust, in con- 
junction with General Charles Scott, Benjamin Logan, Harry 
Innis and Isaac Shelby, with power to enlist men, commission of- 
ficers and carry on war at home and abroad. In conjunction 
with General Knox, and by the assent of General Washington, 
(whom he had convinced of the propriety of the proposed meas- 
ures,) he devised several of those military expeditions into the 
Indian territories which were of such signal service in suppressing 
the savage invasions. In one of these successful expeditions, he 
himself accompained the army as a volunteer in the ranks, thus 
lending the influence of his example to enforce his official ex- 
hortations. In the controversy for the Presidency between Mr. 
Jetferson and Colonel Burr, he being at that time president elect 
pro. tem. of the Senate, he advocated the claims of Mr. Jeffer- 
son, with zealous ardor. Mr. Jefferson's administration pressed 
upon him the acceptance of several highly important and lucra- 
tive offices under the General Goverment, all of which he de- 
clined. He had also the good fortune to enjoy the friendshp 
of Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe, and when Mr. Monroe be- 
came President, that eminent patriot addressed him a letter 
■wishing him to make known to the Administration in what man- 
ner it could testify its regard for his character and early public 
services. With the most distinguished men in the annals of the 
west he had a most friendly and intimate association. With Gen- 
George Rogers Clark, Governor Shelby, General Scott, Governor 
Madison, Judges Innis and Todd, and Col. Nicholas, and their 
illustrious cotemporaries, he lived upon terms of the most endear- 
ing intimacy. At the time of his death there was probably no 
man living who knew as much of the personal history of the 
principal men in the Revolutionary combat as he did, and being 
nearly, if not the very last, survivor of the old Congress, and 
having served three terms immediately succeeding the adoption 
of the New Constitution, his conversation in relation to the ac- 
tors and occurrences of those days was peculiarly interesting and 
valuable. 

Upon ceasing to act a part in the politics of the country, he 
devoted himself with great care to the duties which devolved up- 
on him as a private citizen. His walk through life was without 
a deviation from the paths of honor and rectitude, and he was a 
liberal contributor to every thing which had for its object th« 



180 

promotion of the happiness of man. As a friend, he was devoted 
in his attachment and unsuspicious in his temper — as a brother, 
no man ever enjoyed more fully that happiness which flows from 
fraternal harmony and confidence — as a neighbor, he was hospi- 
table and kind — as a master, he was liberal and indulgent, and 
some years before his death gave immediate emancipation to the 
elder of his servants, and of prospective emancipation to such as 
were under age — as a father and husband, he was faultless, and 
there was not a gray hair in his venerable head that they did not 
reverence. And if ever a man's children could rise up and call 
their father blessed, he is entitled to the benediction and the joy 
of that promise. As a christian, he Avas unobtrusive and fervent 
in his devotion ; and how a long life of active benevolence was 
closed, may be seen in the following statement of the concluding 
scene, which is from the pen of one who was privileged to be 
with him as a comforter in his last moments, and whose happy 
lot it was to witness how tranquilly and sublimely the good man 
and the good christian can meet the eye of the all seeing God. 

" It is at all times interesting and instructive, when we knoxv 
the manner of a man's life, to be made acquainted also with the 
manner of his deatii. Mr. Brown, for several weeks previous to 
his last confinement, complained of slight indisposition, which 
produced some uneasiness in the minds of his affectionate family. 
Every arrangement was completed for his departure to the 
Olympian Springs for the restoration of his health, when he was 
violently attacked by his disease which confined him to bed for 
several days. On the Sabbath following, he attended church 
both morning and evening, which was his invariable custom. On 
Sunday, August 3d, he set out for Lexington, where he remained 
several weeks under the care cf an eminent Physician. On 
Thursday, August 25, he left Lexington and reached his home on 
the evening of the next day. He lived until the following Tues- 
day morning. About half past one o'clock he breathed his last. 
During all his sickness, which was exceedingly distressing, his 
mind was clear, calm and collected. Not a cloud at any time 
obscured his mental vision. He knew that he was standing upon 
the verge of two worlds — that he was about to leave the one 
which was temporal, and to enter upon the other which was 
eternal. He knew further, that his destiny in the eternal depend- 
ed upon his character in the temporal world ; and yet, knowing 
all this, "having served his generation by the will of God," and 
having placed all his hopes in a Saviour's righteousness, he was 
undismayed by the prospect. He met death like a friend — com- 
mended his spirit to the Lord .Tesus, and sunk sweetly and su- 
blimely to rest in the bosom of his God. It was a sublime spec- 
tacle, to behold that venerable man — whose goodness was as un- 



181 

obtrusive as it was exemplary; who was a blessing to his gene- 
ration, to his family, and to the church with which he was con- 
nected as a member and an officer — fall asleep without a sigh or 
a struggle in the arms of death. Few persons enjoyed more of 
this world's honors and blessings than he did, yet few are they 
whose hearts are so thankful for them. It was, indeed, "by the 
goodness of God that he was led to repentance; " and often while 
he was enduring the sufferings of his last illness, would he ex- 
claim, "have I received good, and shall I not receive evil?" His 
last hours were spent in prayer and thanksgiving. Few possess- 
ed his benevolence — so kind to the poor, not in words only, but in 
deeds also — so liberal in his contributions to all objects of benevo- 
lence. Few were so punctual in their attendance upon the ser- 
vices of the sanctuary, yet he relied upon none of these for his 
admittance into the upper world. "I have been an unprofitable 
servant," Avas his dying testimony. All these, doubtless, afforded 
him consolation, as evidences of his change of heart ; but he said, 
with an emphasis, which all of his acquaintance will understand, 
"I rest my hopes of salvation upon my Saviour'' s righteousness.''^ 
It was this hope that enabled him to die the death of a christian 
philosopher — "Oh let me die the death of the righteous, and may 
my last end be like his." May this be the feeling of all who read 
this notice — and may they remember, that to die as he died, 
they must live as he lived." 

Mr. Brown died at his residence, in Frankfort, Kentucky, on 
the 29th of Aug., 1837, in the SOth year of his age. 



On page 31, it is erroneously stated that Kenton renounced his 
paternal name of Butler, and assumed that of Kenton. It should 
have been, that he renounced his paternal name of Kenton, and 
assumed that of Butler. On page 11, seventh line, for 1769, 
read 1679. 



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